Star Fox: Destinies
by Emile The Watcher
Summary: A collection of one-shots set thought out random points in the Star Fox universe, inspired by other works on this site and lots of time staring at fan-art. Rated T for now, though that may change to a light M later. So come, take a few minutes to read some of my many ideas that never turn into full stories.
1. Wretched Destiny

_-Star Fox: _**Destinies**_-_

_-One Shot Collection By: _**Emile The Watcher**_.-_

_-Disclaimer: _**Yeah, still dreaming that I'll own Star Fox one day. Until then, all the cool rights stuff belongs to Nintendo.**

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**So, I was driving to work one day, and while listening to music, I had an idea shoot through my head for a story. I threw it together quickly, thought it was alright then thought to myself that I have a lot of these one shot ideas just...floating around. So, I started working on putting them down on paper, since I carry a big ol' art book that now serves as my writing tablet when I'm out and about. Then I started putting them into Open Office, changing them as I go with new ideas and what not.**

**After that, it was like the flood gates opened. EVERYTHING was giving me ideas, I was overloaded with different little stories and one not. So I have quite a few ideas, and I'm constantly being inspired by various Star Fox fan pics, and stories, that I'm finding. Even just normal music from my radio. At this point, I easily have eight more ideas bouncing around. We'll see how this goes before I work on getting those uploaded.**

**Since I'm always looking for ideas, I'm opening a door for you guys. If you have an idea that you think would make a good one shot, but don't want to do it yourself, go ahead and leave me a review or pm me, and if I like the idea that it clicks, I'll see what I can do to work it into here.**

**I think that should be it, so with that, I'll leave you with the first Destiny, the Wretched Destiny.**

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_-Chapter 1-_**Wretched Destiny-**

**-**_Inspired by: _**Cpt. Fox's "What you Want" One Shot.**_-_

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_'This isn't right'_

That one thought ran itself around in my head, over and over, around and around, in endless loops. Never ending, never ceasing, and never being wrong. I know that I should be happy for him, and I am, Really. Somewhere deep inside the pain that has clamped down on my heart, I'm really happy for him, if hes happy, I'm happy. Perhaps in a few years I'll be able to really show that happiness.

Right?

That's a lie, and I know it, for all my false smiles and sudden laughs, inside I'm broken, ripped into pieces and crushed beyond all belief. For the past few months, whenever I'm drifting off to sleep, one last thought makes itself know to me.

He. Is. Mine. Mine!

As music starts to drift through the room, I'm pulled out of my thoughts as the notes start to gently waft through the air. The flowing cords lift the spirit of everybody in the room. Everybody that is, except for two.

I shifted my gaze around the room, taking in the sights before me. Laid out in the large room, were lengthy wooden pews, each one packed full of citizens of Corneria City. Many of them were holding cameras and pointing them to my right. Banners of bright white hung from the ceiling, streams of pink running down them in peaceful spirals. The edges of the pews had white sleeves covering them, also with pink, but this was a gently smattering of dots. To my right stood a magnificent white gable with pink streamers wound through its slats. Inside the gable stood a very nervous looking fox in a black tux.

Fox McCloud, Hero of Lylat, and Groom at his wedding.

My gaze eventually settled on the avian standing on the other side of the gable, blue feathers slicked back, and dressed in a matching Tux.

Falco Lombardi, Star Fox pilot, best man at his friends wedding, and the only other unhappy person here.

If you looked closely at his eyes you could see the same emotions that warred for dominance inside me. I wasn't alone in thinking that this whole thing was wrong. My tail twitched twice in irritation, causing the soft blue of my gown to sway gently. I spotted Falco tapping his foot slightly and I could feel his rage from here. The doors at the back swung open suddenly and my eyes were drawn along the stripe of red carpet to the bride walking through the pews towards Fox.

As she made her way slowly along the path to the gable where Fox was watching, I found myself drawn to watch her, my breath hitching slightly with every step. Excitement for her, and horror about what was about to happen slamming me every second and fighting for dominance. It felt like I blinked and she was just _there_ standing in front of Fox who smiled softly at her and lifted her veil. I couldn't see her face from my end, but if Falco stiffening slightly and anger and pink tail hand't given it away, I knew who Fox was saying 'I do' with.

Katt Monroe, my best friend, and she was marrying Fox, my Fox.

It took everything I had to just keep smiling, and when they exchanged vows and said those two words to each other. Well, I'm glad everybody assumed they were tears of joy.

It had started a few months ago.

At least, that's when I noticed it, which probably meant that it had been happening for a while. Fox began to go distance with me, spending less time at my apartment and inviting me over to his less. When I asked why he told me that was 'spending time with his other friends'. Turns out it had only been one friend, and it seems cruelly fitting that it was my best friend.

These memories were the ones that dominated my thoughts now that the ceremony was over. I hadn't even stuck around for their first dance, I brushed by Katt whispered that I wasn't feeling good and beat it to the door before she could ask me and questions. I hadn't even made it out of the building before I let the first sob out, and by the time I made it to my car, my fur was wet with tears and everything looked blurry. I raced home as fast as I could and when I made it that, my hand was shaking to much from grief to get the key in the door properly.

On the third try I managed it and I slipped in, shutting the door loudly as I threw my weight against it and felt my strength give out in my legs. I slowly slid down the door, crying, letting out all the emotion that had been building all day. It wasn't long though before strength surged through me though and I found myself storming around my small apartment, cursing the world, the fates, the gods, everything and everyone I could think of.

I made it to my room and stripped out of my bridesmaid dress, glaring at disdainfully as it slid off my body and onto the floor. In that moment, I knew I couldn't stay here, not now, and not alone. I needed to do something, and soon. I went to my closest and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, I pulled my hair out of its fancy pony tail that I had for the wedding and quickly wrapped it up into a high sitting one. I stormed out of my room and only stopped briefly to grab my wallet and slip it into my back pocket as I reached for my keys and reached for the doorknob.

I paused for a moment and stared at the white Star Fox vest that was hanging from a peg. I blinked and found my mind made up, I grabbed the vest and slipped it on as I left my apartment locking the door and having none of the trouble of twenty minutes ago. With my goal in mind, I walked past my car and walked through the cooling air of the Corneria City as I headed in the direction of the star port.

After what felt like eternity, I entered that part of the city and stopped in front of local bar. A mean looking bulldog bouncer stood guard in front of the door, but he moved aside as I approached. The bar was for fighter pilots only, and Star Fox members had an open tab here. As I walked past the guard I nodded my head in thanks as he opened the door and I slipped into the dimly lit building.

I worked my way across the room and sat down at the bar, ordering a drink and focusing on that while hoping the alcohol would kick in and help dull the my thoughts, and my pain. I was only into my second glass when Falco dropped down into the seat next to me. I glanced at him and sniffed, I was just drinking the stuff on tap, but from the smell of Falco and his glass. He had gone straight for the hard stuff, and this wasn't his second glass, or his forth.

We drank in silence for a few minutes before he started talking.

"Apparently, its all our own faults." his words slurred slightly as the stench of whiskey grew strong in the air for a moment. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, waiting for him to continue. "What happened today." He said as he blinked a few times at me as if he couldn't quite keep me in focus.

I took a long drink from my glass before I responded. "Are you talking about the wedding of our best friends?" I asked softly as I set my glass down and stared at the dark liquid.

He scoffed and bumped me with his shoulder, spilling his drink in the process. "Don't act like your happy from em." he paused to burp wetly. "I know how you feel about him, and about today. I know, because I fell the same way." He focused on my face as I raised my eyebrow, or rather, he tried to. "and I can see it in you."

I opened my mouth to deny it, but stopped and sighed, there was no point in arguing with him. While Falco was normally stubborn, but when he got drunk, really drunk, which he obviously hit that point, he could argue with a brick wall until he sobered up.

I shook my head. "So, how is it our faults?" I asked him softly as I took another drink.

Falco blinked and leaned back, before he answered, as if he was piecing it together in his mind. "My fault for not paying enough attention to Katt, and your fault for being to perfect for Fox."

I blinked and looked at him in confusion. "Too perfect?"

He nodded. "Yeah, apparently Fox didn't think he deserved you, and you never told him otherwise" He paused to drown the rest of his glass.

"How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

Falco frowned "I corned Katt as she was leaving Fox's apartment one night, and I confronted her about it." He shrugged "Anyway, I'm guessing something happened a couple of months ago while they were both drunk, I'm thinking sex, and it went from there."

I blinked as I tried not to think about Fox and Katt doing that, I failed. I shook my head to try and clear the image from my mind. Falco raised two fingers at the bar tender who nodded and a few moments later slid two glasses in front of us.

I glanced at Falco who had already slammed his own shot. He glanced at me as he set down the empty glass. "It'll help, trust me."

I turned back to the short glass in front of my with distrust on my face. I had never had hard liquor before. But that didn't stop me from taking a firm grip and pausing to swallow, throwing the amber liquid down my throat. I coughed as the sharp bite of strong alcohol assaulted my throat.

"This," I paused and coughed again as the burn persisted "is supposed to help me?

Falco just grinned as he raised two more fingers. "Admit it, you feel better now."

I shook my head as another shot glass was placed in front of us. I looked at it in doubt for a moment before I reached for it and lifted it to my lips.

A few hours later found me shouldering my door opened with the almost dead weight of Falco braced against me. The walk to the bar had seemed to take forever, yet the walk back had seemed to take only minutes. I worked my way into my apartment, an impressive feat considering that the world had started to spin as I was climbing the stairs with Falco. I dropped Falco on the couch and he woke up briefly to start mumbling.

"Come on Krystal...One more toast."

I shook my head, a mistake as it set my entire skull aching. "No. Enough." Those two words being the most I could manage at that point.

"Come on..." He drawled out. "One last one, to wretched destiny." He swung his arm lazily through the air and closed his eyes and was snoring before his arm hit the ground. I watched him doze for a moment while I wondered how me managed to talk that much before I pulled a blanket off the top of the couch and covered him with it.

I stumbled into my room, tripping over my dress and dropping onto my bed with a sigh. As I started to drift off still fully clothed,I thought about what Fox and Katt were doing at this moment on their honeymoon, a small tear working its way out of my eye. "Wretched destiny indeed" I moaned into my pillow as I stopped fighting the numbing blackness and let it roll over my brain and send me off into a dreamless sleep.

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_**Well? What do you think? Not bad for less then two hours of total writing time. At least I think its not bad. If you agree with me, you should drop a review and tell me if you liked it and would want to see more. If you hated it...well, still drop me a review and tell me why. I love getting reviews and I respond to all of them.  
**_

_**Anyway, that's the first chapter, and if I get time while packing and what not tomorrow, I'll try and get the second one typed out and uploaded at the hotel. I tell you, I love my family, but at the same time, I'm not looking forward to a family reunion. At least I'll get to visit my friend in California after words. Till the next upload,**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	2. Beautiful Destiny

_**Well, I'm back with another update to this little series. I most likely won't be updating my big stories right now, just not enough time while I'm out here to work on those. Plus, I don't have any ideas that are flowing for them right now. Anyway, I know I said I would update a few days ago, but you know, packing, driving, what not, got distracted. Then you know, being here at the family reunion, well, I don't always get a lot of time to type. So, I had another oneshot I was going to do for the second chapter, but I received a request, and the spark was lit. So, give a Thanks to Bryan McCloud if you enjoyed this story!**_

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_-Chapter 2-_**Beautiful Destiny-**

**-**_Inspired by: _**bryan mccloud**_-_

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Fox McCloud paced outside the room, his nervousness apparent to everybody who was watching him.

"Fox, buddy come sit down." Falcos call from down the hall had Fox shooting a dark glare at his friend and co-pilot before he resumed his pacing. Katt put a hand on Falcos arm and shook her head gently at her husband. Falco looked at her with confusion. "What? I'm just trying to get him to calm down."

Katt shook her head again "Falco, right now, sitting is the last thing he wants to be doing. Let him pace, I care to remind you were acting the same way not too long ago."

Falco scoffed. "Yea, well, that's different."

Katt chuckled softly as she readjusted her hold on the bundle of blankets in her left arm. "How is this different?"

Falco was silent for a moment "Because its us ya know, its just so unheard of, but with her and Fox..." Falco trailed off and waved his hands through the air trying to find the proper words. "They just kinda fit, ya know?"

Katt chuckled softly and turned away from Falco to stare down into the stunning blue eyes of the baby in her arms. The soft pink feathers ran along her head in a gently arc, turning a slight blue as they reached her pointy ears. "Daddy's crazy, I think we fit just right."

Falco sighed and leaned over Katts shoulder. "Hey, shes the crazy one who married me."

The moment that the two were referring to was when Olivian was born, the first Aviline of her kind, the doctors had rushed her away because she wasn't breathing, among other issues. Katt and Falco waited for two days, getting reports and only being able to see their little girl through a glass wall, as the doctors figured out what was wrong and got it fixed. Now it seemed like Fox might have to go through the same thing.

Fox came back out into the waiting room, his pathway outside the room that he had just been kicked out of taunting him with its solidness. He wanted, _needed, _to see what was happening with his wife. It didn't seem fair for this to drop now.

Everything else had just been so normal that Fox hadn't expected anything to happen, not bad enough to have him ejected from the room anyway.

The two of them had been home asleep in their room when Krystal had sat up suddenly, the sharp movement waking the military trained vulpine next to her.

"_Whats wrong?" Fox asked as he watched her with curiosity. Krystal was just staring out into their darkened room, inhaling slowly and blinking rapidly, like she couldn't quite focus on anything in front of her. "Krystal?" he asked softly as he pulled his legs free of their comforter and moved closer to her on the bed._

_Her blue fur was lit by the moon that hung in the sky and shined through the big window that overlooked the city. Her white dress was loose and flowed around her, leaving room for her stomach which had expanded in the past months with the life within._

"_Krystal?" Fox asked once more, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked when his palm passed and she exhaled a word slipping out between her lips. "...dad..."_

_Fox frowned and blinked. "Dad? Krystal? Can you hear me?"_

_Krystal blinked once more and looked around the room startled. When she eyes locked with Fox she just stared at him for a moment. "We need to leave, right now."_

_Fox slid off the bed as Krystal flung the comforter off her legs and moved towards their closet. "Krystal? Leave? To where?"_

_Krystal glanced over her shoulder at him she pulled on a loose pair of pants. "To the hospital."_

_Fox was slightly quicker in getting ready so he was shrugging his green t-shirt over his head when he asked. "Hospital? What for? You're not due for another month. Is something wrong?"_

_Krystal shook her head as she pulled on a jacket and moved towards the door to their apartment, grabbing the keys to their hovercar and throwing them at him. "Just a feeling, lets go."_

_Fox just shook his head as he followed his wife out the door and down through their apartment building to the parking garage. The entire time Fox just had a slight smile on his face, figuring this was just some weird urge of hers since she was pregnant. At least he was until they were stopped at a light four blocks from the hospital and she suddenly gasped and looked down._

_He glanced over still with that smile on his face "Whats wrong now?"_

_She stared at him wide eyed. "My water just broke."_

_Fox felt his own eyes widen and he turned back to the empty street in front of him, he reached down for the shifter and slammed his foot down on the pedal, glad for the empty streets of the night as he tore through his first ever red light, which was quickly stacked with three more as he kept the pedal floored until he made the turn into the hospital._

_As they got out of the car, Fox now helping Krystal, with her face scrunched up in pain, he couldn't help but ask. "How did you know?"_

_She just shook her head as they worked their way into the main entrance and repeated what she had said to him in the apartment. "Just a feeling."_

Fox thought on those words now as he waited in one of the few moments where he paused in his pacing outside the room. _'just a feeling'_ now those words worried him, had it been just a feeling that she should get the hospital because of her water about to break, or a feeling because she knew something was going to go wrong.

Fox still didn't know anything after a full hour and that's what frustrated him the most. Things had been going fine, Krystal had been crushing his paw in her hand as she screamed through the piece of leather she had been given so she didn't hurt herself with her own teeth. Fox had been giving her encouragement and doing the only thing a husband can do for his wife while shes in childbirth: Be there.

Suddenly one of the feline nurses had suddenly stood up and walked over to the doctor and whispered into his ears. The fennec doctor had then pointed to Fox and told him to leave, and before Fox could protest he found his palm ripped from his wife's hand as two more nurses bustled him out of the room and locked the door. The last thing he had saw was Krystal's face scrunched in pain as she shifted her grip to the bars on the side of her bed, and as the door swung closed, he could still hear her muffled scream. Then the door has clicked closed, followed by the thick sound of the deadbolt and all that was left was silence, at least until his friends came up the hall to see what was wrong.

Fox felt his eyes lift as the the think clunking sound of the deadbolt releasing reached his ears. He waited for what seemed like forever for the door to slid open, each inch feeling like another year to him as he watched the form of the doctor slip out into the hallway. Fox felt his face fall when the door closed behind the doctor who, with his grim face looking for Fox had the normally fearless pilot feel like his heart had stopped beating.

As the doctors eyes met his, Fox felt time slow again as his mind churned into overdrive. In his minds eye he saw multiple scenarios playing out, each one, a nightmare.

"_Mr. McCloud...I'm...I'm sorry, there were complications. We tried to keep him alive...but...I'm sorry."_

Then...

"_Mr. McCloud, your son is waiting for you, but...you wife...something went wrong. Before we could even realize what was happening...shes gone...I'm Sorry."_

Then one more, and this one was the worst...

"_Mr. McCloud...Fox...I don't know how to tell you this, but, your son died shortly after being born, and your wife, she, her body couldn't handle it, shes gone as well. I'm so sorry for your loss."_

"McCloud?"

Fox blinked and shook his head, wondering when the doctor had managed to cross the hallway. "Sorry Doctor, I was...having a waking nightmare. What happened? How come I was kicked out?"

The fennec doctor rubbed his head. "There was some strange readings on our monitors, and we needed to have the room private just in case."

Fox was silent for a moment. "Okay, but my son...what about my son?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes...it was a close-"

Fox reached out and put his paws on the doctors shoulders, stopping him. "Is my son alive?"

The doctor chuckled softly. "Your son is fine, as far as we can tell anyway. We have to wait for a full work up later tonight, but so far her Cerinian blood and your Cornerian blood seem to be mixing fine. He is a healthy kit, and hes waiting with your wife."

Fox sighed heavily and said a silent prayer of thanks to anybody who was listening before he dodged around the doctor and made for the door.

"McCloud?"

Fox stopped with his hand on the knob, he turned to look over his shoulder at the doctor, for the first time noticing his name tag. "Yes Dr. Amos?"

Dr. Amos shrugged his shoulders as if he was loosening his muscles. "One thing, just so you know. When your son was born, he wasn't breathing, and we detected no brain activity. Before we could start to work on him, your wife demanded that we hand him to her. I wanted to tell her what was wrong, but I couldn't for some reason, and I just gave him to her. She looked at him for a moment, and she narrowed her eyes at him and suddenly he just inhaled and stared at her as she smiled. I've never seen anything like that before, so, just something to keep in mind, you may want to ask her about it."

Fox nodded silently and opened the door, slipping into the room with Krystal who was holding a bundle of blue blankets in her arm while a nurse worked on cleaning up the room. Fox stopped as the door closed and just stared.

Krystal had always been beautiful, but right now, with sweat dampening her hair that hung down over her face. The slight tear marks that were around her eyes, which were currently staring at the bundle of blankets, The rest of her hair was a mess and she looked tired enough to just fall asleep right then. Yet, all of that was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He was still staring when Krystal looked up at him and laughed softly "Well?" she started her voice rough from her yelling. "Are you going to come and say hello to your son?"

Fox let go of the knob and walked forward slowly, his eyes never leaving the blue bundle of blankets. He sat down on the bed next to his wife and dropped an arm over her shoulder, his hand gently rubbing her tense muscles. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he leaned forward and pulled the blankets away from the face of the kit in her arms.

His fur was a startling light crystal blue, although he had Foxs coloring pattern across his face. The toddler blinked and locked eyes with Fox who exhaled softly when the dark blue orbs met his. Fox felt something stirring at the edge of his mind, just like when Krystal was communicating with him. There were no words, just feelings, sights, sounds. Fox saw himself, and a feeling of safety that was associated with it. He saw Krystal and a feeling of belonging.

Fox blinked. "Wow." he said softly. He heard the words again though that connection and that feeling of safety deepened around him, along with that same feeling of belonging.

Krystal giggled softly next to him and Fox felt the connection withdraw. "Well, I guess we know if he got your powers or not. That...that was different, pure."

Krystal giggled again as the kit reached out a paw and wrapped it around Foxs finger. Fox let the kit pull his finger down and stick it in his mouth, Fox used his other free fingers to brush through the little tuft of white hair that was already hanging down in between his eyes.

"What do we call him?" Fox asked suddenly, laughing gently at his son.

Krystal was silent for a moment before she spoke up. "Marcus." she said softly, causing Fox to look at her. He could tell from the way she said it that the name meant something. She smiled and met his eyes. "It was my fathers name."

Fox paused for a moment. "Marcus McCloud. I like it. Has a nice ring to it." He glanced over at the nurse who was waiting with a pad. Fox nodded at her and she quickly put Marcus McCloud into the pad before she walked over to the door and opened it, walking out, she stopped to wave at their friends who were still down the hallway. She then turned and waved once at Fox and Krystal before she vanished into the depths of the hospital.

Her place was quickly filled by their friends, all of them piling in at once to see the newborn Marcus. Fox looked around at his friends, his family really, then he looked at Marcus and felt the boy reach out to him again. Fox smiled as he felt the bond deepen and glanced up at his family.

"Allow me to introduce you to Marcus McCloud, the newest member of the Star Fox family."

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_**Well, what did you think of that one? I spent more like four hours with this one, I liked the idea, but at certain points the story just didn't seem to flow and I spent time rewriting bits and just staring at the screen. I also read through this one, but since Grammar and I have a hate / hate relationship, I'm sure I missed quite a few things.**_

_**Anyway, if you've read my other stories, you know what starts here, Guest Reviews!**_

_**BRS: Here's your update, back into the Cannon parings for now, but remember ideas can always get me writing on other things.**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: A lot of people do see it as messed up, but hey, its an idea : P Hope you enjoyed this chapter a bit more.**_

_**JackLinks: Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for pointing out the mistake, I swear I'll fix it...You know, one day :P. As for Ideas, I'm always looking out for ideas for this.**_

_**Loggin: Most Likely, I've had a few other requests for that already, but I'm waiting for a good idea to come along. I don't want to just basically do a repeat of the first one ya know?**_

_**Well, that's that! Thanks for all the reviews on the first chapter, and I hope you'll leave your thoughts on this one as well! I'm off to read some StarFox stuff that I've been meaning to get to for a long time, so until the next update!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	3. Deadened Destiny

_**Right, well, here we are with another update for you all, I'll warn ya, its semi dark, and its pushes the T rating this story currently carries. If any of you think its too M, I'll take it down and replace it with another one that I have waiting. I will also say though, I really enjoyed writing this one. So, with that, I'll leave you to Deadened Destiny:**_

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_-Chapter 3-_**Deadened Destiny-**

**-**_Inspired by: _**Quote "You either die a Hero..."**_-_

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"Captain Powalski."

Leon turned around as the voice echoed out behind him. "Yes Solider?"

The Venom lizard behind him saluted as he came to a stop next to the chameleon. "Sir, I was just wondering if you had a moment. I have a question about our campaign here today."

Leon was silent as he thought for a moment. "Very well, walk with me, I'm on my way to meet the Commander."

The lizard saluted again and fell into step next to Leon as they worked their way through the carrier. "Sir, I was just wondering why we're doing all of this. Not that I mind of course, I'm glad we finally found somebody to lead us against Corneria that can secure our victory. Just with all the other assaults, like the one on Katina for instance, that one we had plenty of time to prepare, and the Commander didn't send us in until he knew we were ready."

Leon nodded "But..."

"But, this time, we're rushing, why?"

Leon stopped where he was and glanced around the hanger before he switched to the difficult to speak venom language. "I don't know why we are pressing the attack now, perhaps the Commander believes that Corneria is weak after their many defeats. All I know is that I do not question my orders, I follow them when they are given, and so far that has worked out well."

The lizard paused. "But, you used to follow O'Donnell, what about him, why isn't he here?"

Leon glanced around once more, nerves having him adjust the belt of his black officers great coat. "O'Donnell didn't agree with the Commander, and was...released...from his duties here."

The lizard blinked and swallowed. "Released..."

Leon locked eyes with the recruit and nodded, he swapped back into normal speech to continue. "Just follow all of your orders as they were given."

"_I'm a little disappointed in you Powalski. I really thought you would tell him."_

Leon let out a little hiss of surprise and glanced up at the walkway above him. The Commander of the New Venom army was standing on the gantry dressed in his large dark red great coat, hanging loose off his form with the rest of his flowing black commanders outfit revealed. The right side of his face was covered with his always present head gear and his eye piece glowed a dark and eerie blue.

"Commander." Leon said with a salute while the Lizard next to him jumped to attention.

The Commander vaulted the railing of the gantry and dropped to the ground in front of his two soldiers, flexing his legs as he landed and standing up as if the half a story drop was a quick hop down a step. He brushed off his great coat and was examining his sleeve when he spoke. "O'Donnell is dead, just like Caroso and anybody else who has challenged me. If you're not with me, you're against me, and as such, you must be removed. Caroso thought that he should be leader and challenged me to a dual, which he lost, and O'Donnell, well..." The Commander stopped and chuckled. "I had hoped Wolf would be more direct, but he tried to kill me in my sleep, so I made sure his next was permanent." He locked gazes with both Powalski and the Recruit. "As for why we're doing this now, its because of what happened today, five years ago."

Leon nodded but the Recruit gulped and spoke up. "If you don't mind sir, what happened five years ago?"

Leon glanced at the Recruit in shock before turning his gaze to the cold face of his Commander. Leon was sure that the Recruit was going to die here and now. But instead the Commander just gave that chilling smile of his his. "I like him, this guy has guts." He chuckled softly again before continuing. "As for what happened five years ago..." The Commander reached up and released the neural connectors at the back of his head before pulling off his head gear and leaning forward, revealing his face to the recruit. "This is what happened, part of it anyway."

The Recruit recoiled away from the Commanders face for a moment before straightening and saluting. "Forgive me sir."

The Commander waved an arm through the air as he reconnected the headpiece. "It's of no matter, its hard not to recoil the first time. I did when I saw myself in the mirror for the first time."

The Recruit nodded, not used to this open version of the Commander, who was usually silent and unreachable. "If you don't mind sir...what else happened on this day?"

The Commander was silent for a moment. "Corneria caught up to me." He sighed softly before continuing. "Seven and a half years ago, my team and I saw something that we were not supposed to. We promised Cornerian Command that we would never spread word of what we saw, and we thought that was that. Then we were sent on a mission, a suicide mission in which our perfectly maintained ships malfunction at every turn and we were ambushed by countless pirates, who knew our precise location." The Commander paused again. "I watched three of my team members die that day, my wife and I being the only ones who made it out of there in one piece. With our ships and cruiser broken and limping we made for Zoness where we thought we could live in peace, and for two and a half years that was true. We settled down, had a child, we were happy, and still, we didn't tell anybody about what we saw."

The Commander turned around to stare at the shiny new fighter behind him, with hull plates of deep black and the bright red skull fire emblem that covered its nose, the fighter was quick to strike fear in the hearts of its enemies. His army was unstoppable, and tonight he would get his revenge. He continued talking again. "Five years ago, Cornerian assassins tracked us down, I woke up to the sound of my wife calling out a warning. We fought tooth and nail, but it wasn't enough, I couldn't stop them from killing my son, and as we escaped, my wife pushed me out of the way of a rocket, the explosion she saved me from, causing debris to fall down and crushing her, and my unborn daughter before I even hit the ground. My face had been ruined by the explosion, along with my ear being removed, and I fled to the only place I thought I might be safe. Venom. There of all places, I recovered, and I started planning, and training, and now, you'll help me do what I should have done years ago: Put Corneria down for good."

The Recruit nodded "So all of this...is for revenge?"

The Commander was quiet for a moment. "You sound doubtful of my reasons."

Leon turned away as the Recruit opened his mouth. "Well, its just that, why-" The Recruit never finished the words, Leon heard the snap of the button and the whisper of leather as the heavy barrel was pulled free of its holster in the small of the Commanders back. Activity in the hanger fell to a stop as the loud report of the old illegal revolver echoed through the hanger. Leon turned back to see the Commander with his arm outstretched with the old gun still smoking softly, the Recruit laying on the ground in front of him. The Commander let the silence soak into the hanger for a few more moments before he spoke up, his harsh voice echoing through the large room.

"I will _not _have doubt in this army, not at this point in the game. I choose all of you because of your loyalty to the cause and your skill with your weapons and ships. Do not make me begin to regret that choice." The Commander let the echo of his voice fade before he continued. "We're positioned above Corneria now, and I trust you all to do as you were told and bring the Cornerian Army to its knees. Remember, as usual minimize the damage to the civilian population, they have done nothing against you or me, and we need somebody to replace the governing body." A red light flashed through the hanger. "Go! Go and bring peace to the Lylat System! For Venom! For Freedom! For Peace!"

The Lizard army cheered and ran to their fighters as Leon and the Commander continued their walk. As they entered the hallways that would lead to the officers hanger Leon spoke up. "A little harsh Commander. But I approve."

The Commander smiled grimly "I thought you might, I will not have any soldier doubting me at this stage. If one starts to doubt, eventually he'll tell another, and from there it will spread, corrupting the very core of our army until we crumble with out Corneria firing a shot."

Leon nodded "I agree sir." Leon paused and glanced at the gauntlet on his wrist. "Sir, we should get moving. Or rather, I should get moving, I have places to be, officers and their body guards to kill."

The Commander nodded as they entered their hanger and Leon turned and ran for his Wolfen IV. "Just remember Leon, leave the General alive, I need her to see what she caused."

Leon nodded and hopped up into the cockpit of his deadly fighter, as it lifted off the ground a wave of shimmering light swept it and the fighter vanished as it left the hanger. The Commander reloaded the spent round from his revolver before boarding his shuttle and lifting off the deck, his ship vanishing from sight as well when he left the hanger.

Almost like a plague of locust, the New Venom Army swept out of the dark reaches of space and descended on the rich planet of Corneria, the last strong hold of their army. All of their outposts and their ships had been destroyed, save for a few stragglers that bravely fought in the airspace above Corneria. In a matter of hours, the Cornerian Army was routed on their own planet, and their leaders were killed one by one, until only one more remained alive and on the run.

"General, look ou-"

General Jennifer Red, a husky colored black and grey, ducked as another of her bodyguards fell to the mysterious sniper that had been chasing them since they have left the compound. Every time they had almost reached one of her safe houses, the sniper would strike again, killing one of her guards and forcing her to retreat down a different path. Now as they headed to her last safe house, she was down to three of her loyal bodyguards, to keep her safe through the war torn streets. They were almost there and Jennifer was desperate, as were her guards, there was a five block expanse of nothing between them and the entrance to her safe house. She knew that as soon as they stepped out of cover the sniper would open fire and claim another life, but this was the only choice she had to get away.

They waited for one more minute until an explosion near by had them tearing out of their cover and sprinting like madmen across the blasted gray landscape. As she predicted, they had only taken a few steps out before the dammed sniper dropped another of her bulldog guards. Not even two seconds passed before another one dropped, the General put on a burst of speed as did her last guard as they ran towards their last safe haven.

When they both made it to safety, Jennifer offered up a small prayer to whatever god might be listening, thanking him for allowing them to make it safely. The hold out room was barren, with a small bed in the corner and a large chair and desk in front of some monitors, but it was reinforced to survive almost anything, and was safe. "Close the door." she said to her last guard as she moved into the spacious room. The loud grinding of the blast doors sounded through out the room and the General relaxed for a moment. At least until she heard the thump of a body, almost hidden by the sound of the blast doors.

She drew her blaster and whirled around. But before she could even pull the trigger, a large blade intercepted her weapon, knocking it from her hand and across the room. Jennifer held her injured wrist as she stared at the chameleon who was standing behind her last guard, a high powered sniper rifle slung across his shoulder.

Jennifer snarled at her opponent. "Leon, I should have known it was you who was hunting me."

Leon chuckled and patted the sniper rifle in its sling. "Its not my preferred way to hunt, but it worked for leading you where I needed you to go."

Jennifer felt her eyes widen slightly. "Of course, you wanted me to come here, that's why we made it across that field."

Leon laughed again, a bit of mania in the sounds. "Oh good, the smart General finally figures it out. After its too late of course."

Jennifer snarled and flexed her hands. "So what now, you kill me?"

Leon shook his head, "Of course not, somebody needs to have a talk with you."

Jennifer frowned. "Tell your Commander that I don't want to listen to him."

"Too bad." Jennifer felt her eyes widen as she turned slowly around. The lengthy form of her enemy relaxing in her chair, feet kicked up on the table in front of him. "I got tired of waiting for you to come to Venom, so I came to you." The Commander dropped his feet off the desk and leaned forward instead, his arms crossed as he stared at the husky in front of him. "It wasn't enough that I promised we would keep quiet, you had to try and off us, to kill me. Well, see where that has gotten you now?" The Commander pressed a button and screens came to life, showing a burning base hidden away inside the Meteos asteroid belt.

"Is that...?"

The Commander nodded as Jennifer trailed off. He stood up and walked around the desk as he started talking. "The very base that I promised never to mention to anyone. Since you didn't keep your promise, I didn't keep mine. My men have orders to track down every scientist in there and drag them out to an airlock, forcing them to watch as they execute their families before flushing the scientist out of the airlock. Then they are going to use the very weapons you have in there to arm Venom and make sure you never rise to power again."

Jennifer growled and stepped forward, only to hiss in pain as Leon drove a bony fist into the back of her head. "Ah ah, don't do anything rash."

Jennifer glared at Leon before turning his gaze to the Commander. "You Butcher...No, that's too gentle a term for you. Monster. You are a cold blooded monster."

The Commander nodded as he stopped in front of Jennifer and spread his arms. "I am what you made me Jennifer. I hope your happy with your results." The Commander turned around with a laugh. "I'm going to let you suffer with the knowledge of what you caused, just like I suffered for five years with the knowledge that I couldn't protect my people."

Jennifer snarled again and let loose with her low blow. "James would be so disappointed in you."

Before the words had finished leaving her lips the sounds of a fist striking flesh echoed through out the room. Jennifer was on all fours, stunned from the powerful blow that she had just received. She looked up into the hard eye of her enemy.

Fox McCloud stood above her, his fur darkened slightly with age, and his face locked in a silent snarl as he stared at her. "You...you have no right to even let his name pass your disgusting lips." Fox stood straight and adjusted his great coat. "You murdered his partner, his daughter in law, and his two grand children, and you tried to murder his son. I have always had as much loyalty as my father for Corneria, but ever since you took over, you have been turning it into what he always fought against. It's only fitting that I lead Venom against you and brought your reign to an end."

Fox drew out his revolver, the very one that he pulled out of Falcos room and reached into his pocket, pulling out a round for the weapon. "I've saved this bullet, all these years, for you General."

"What happened to you McCloud? You used to be a hero, and now..." Jennifer sighed and lowered her head. "Just get it over with."

Fox smiled as he loaded the round. "I'm not going to kill you, in fact, I have a question for you Jennifer. Tell me if you've ever heard this saying before. You either die a hero" he slapped the cylinder closed and aimed briefly at Jennifer "Or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Fox locked eyes with Jennifer and felt his smile grow as he pulled the trigger.

Jennifer screamed as the round removed her ear. Before she could even recover from the shock though, Leon was bandaging her wound and Fox was talking again. "I'm going to take you back to Venom with me Jennifer, and I'm going to lock you in the deepest cell I have, and then I'm going to leave you, with your damaged ear, and with the knowledge that this is all your fault."

Fox turned to leave as Leon finished bandaging Jennifers ear. "Grab her and lets go, we have a system to rebuild."

Leon nodded and slung the silently crying Jennifer over his shoulder. "Yes Sir."

The two of them walked out to where the rest of the New Venom army was waiting, cheering when they saw their Commander walking out with the Jennifer across Leons shoulders.

* * *

_**Right, well, what did ya think? Good, Bad, or just meh? Like I said, I enjoyed writing it, since I was really challenging myself with time on this one. I think its pretty good for two hours and forty five minutes of work, not counting spell checking and what have you. { Three hours and five minutes counting proofing in case you care : P }**_

_**So, a couple of quick notes, if you're enjoying this story, you should meander over to my profile page and check out Star Fox: The Dead Planet, I think its some of my best work, and I've had other people tell me that as well, so I think its worth your time. Also, if you have Facebook and want to stay up to date with what I'm working on, you should check out the link on my profile page as well, give my page a like and you'll be kept up to date when I'm planning things. **_

_**Right, this chapter got delayed just a bit, mainly because I was traveling again, but also because I was reading Star Fox- The Iridium Chronicle by K.S. Reynard. Heavily detailed, Amazing story, and he just updated it. It's just a damn right amazing read. Thanks for helping me pass that last two hour stint of my road trip : P**_

_**With that, its time for Guest Reviews!**_

_**V: Glad you enjoyed and found it sweet and cute, that was what I was aiming for. Also, here is your third chapter : P**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Glad you enjoyed this one more, and to be honest, I stole the idea from Kit-Karamak, but it just works SO well. Anyway, see you next chapter!**_

_**JackLinks: Cool! Glad to hear! But then again, how many of those are out there : P Also, she most likely will, I'm just not sure what...space pirate huh...I could see that...Idea! Thanks : D. Also you didn't come off as a jerk, that's what I want people to do, if you don't point out mistakes, how will I improve? As for your actual idea, I like it, but not as a oneshot, you should create an account and write that, I would read it!**_

_**Well, there we go, thank you all for the reviews, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! **_

_**Until next time!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	4. Denial Destiny

_**Well, here's another short for you all, I hope you're still enjoying what I'm doing here. This one was...odd to write. I knew what I wanted with it, but I just couldn't it to mesh right. So if it seems kinda jarring and off, that's why : P I still did like how it turned out though, so here you go: the Denied Destiny.**_

* * *

_-Chapter 4-_**Denial Destiny-  
-**_Inspired by: _**Every Krystal x Fox piece out there.**_-_

* * *

As the small shuttle approached the planet in front of them, Fox McCloud couldn't help but glance at his co-pilot again. After everything that they had been through, meeting on Sauria, and all the way through the Aparoid War, it just didn't seem like this moment would ever come.

The silence in the shuttle was thick enough to be cut, and it had been that way since the two of them had left Corneria. Normally Fox was okay with a quiet trip, but his co-pilot was anything but. So it was surprising to him that she had yet to speak up. But as the outside of their ship started to glow red from reentry into the atmosphere, Fox couldn't help but voice the thought in his mind.

"Excited?"

"Hmm?" Krystal looked over from her console at Fox's voice. Fox glanced at her once again as she stared at him, her turquoise green eyes starting at him with curiosity.

"About what you'll find, down on the surface?"

"Oh." Krystal turned back to her console, the beads in her hair clicking gently with each other. She was dressed in her blue combat armor, and Fox watched her tail twitch softly as she thought about Foxs question. "I guess so."

Fox raised an eyebrow as the red glow faded and they entered the cloud cover of the planet. "You guess?" Unlike Krystal, Fox was dressed in jeans, a black shirt, and his white vest. His blaster was stored in its holster which was hanging off the back of his seat.

Krystal sighed. "I don't know what to think Fox. It could all be a hoax for all I know. Its hard to deny what I saw when I was younger." she paused "Still, some small part of me hopes that the message we received was true, that I might not be alone." She gestured through the wind screen to the jungle that emerged from the clouds. "That this might just be Cerinia..." She trailed off as Fox brought the shuttle in towards a temple in the distance. "...It looks like it could be Cerinia..."

Fox heard the pause in her voice. "But?"

She shook her head as Fox circled the temple at the coordinates they had been given. "I don't recognize this part. Then again, I never left my village until the day the planet was destroyed."

Fox nodded as he brought the shuttle down low near the temple to land. "Well, that is what we're here for right? To confirm for the Cornerian scouts that this is Cerinia?"

Krystal stood up as the shuttle touched down and Fox started the shut down process. She walked around the seat to her pack where she kept her holsters, one, a standard waist holster for the custom blaster that she used as part of Star Fox, and the other, a custom holster that kept her collapsed staff in easy reach just over her right shoulder. As Fox finished shutting down the shuttle he stood up and quickly snapped his own holster on and double checked to make sure the rest of his gear was intact.

Both he and Krystal were taking a medium back pack loaded with flares, climbing gear, food, water, and first aid kits. Strapped on top were small sleeping bags just in case they got too far away to make it back to the shuttle by night fall. He gave Krystal a pat on the shoulder and a nod as he led the way out of the back of the shuttle and towards the temple entrance. The main door was just big enough for the two of them to walk side by side with each other, shining their lights on the walls and the floor as they made their way through the hall. Eventually they came across a set of stairs and proceeded down, the worn stairs would sometimes let out onto landings that went nowhere, and it was at these points that the pair would take breaks to rest and recover.

It was on one of these landings that Krystal suddenly stood up, reaching for her staff, and pulling it over her shoulder, extending it and getting ready to fight. Fox watching her out of the corner of his eye stood up as well and drew his blaster. He kept bouncing his aim up the stairway from where they came and further down, where they had yet to go. He waited for a moment for Krystal to speak up and when she didn't he spoke up softly.

"Krystal, what is it?" he waited a moment more and when she still didn't answer him he turned to look at her over his shoulder. What he saw had him lowering his weapon and facing her fully. "Krystal?"

The blue vixen was down on one knee with her staff still extended, her head was bowed and she appeared deep in thought. "Krystal?" Fox asked as he took a step forward, still glancing up and down the stairway. As he reached her he knelt down and put his hand on her back. "Krystal, what did you sense."

At that point Krystal started crying softly and after a brief pause, Fox instinctively wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "Krystal...whats wrong?"

She lifted her head and blinked and Fox saw the smile on her face, a look of pure joy that he hadn't seen on her in a long time. "Nothings wrong Fox..." she trailed off and sighed "Can't you feel them?"

Fox cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Feel who?"

Krystal just laughed softly, the tears still running down into her fur. "I'm home, this is Cerinia, I can feel them, and they can feel us."

Fox blinked. "Them...Cerinians?!"

Krystal nodded and laughed again, a small hiccup escaping her as she finished. "Cerinians Fox, I'm not alone, they're here, and they're waiting for us below."

Fox stood up and held a hand for Krystal who took his paw and let him pull her to her feet. Fox was at a loss for a moment before he glanced down the passage way and holstered his blaster. "Well then, lets not keep them waiting."

The two continued their descent, Krystal leading the way with an excitement Fox had yet to see out of her off the battlefield. As they descended, Krystal told him what she was finding out. How, the Cerinians had settlements up on the surface, but when they saw the shuttle entering the atmosphere, they retreated underground into the temple. Before long they reached the bottom and Krystal stopped as she let out a gasp of amazement as she took in the large carved cavern.

What had Foxs attention though were the blue foxes spread through out the cavern, some coming out of side caves, and some just standing around. All of them were clothed similar to how Krystal first looked when Fox found her on Sauria. As Fox let his gaze move about the cave, Krystal walked forward to the most ornately dressed fox in the cave and bowed her head in front of him. He was aged and bent over a large wooden staff, with a large headdress running down to touch his back. Fox was watching and felt his eyes widen as he heard a voice in his head.

"_Please my Queen, it is I who should be bowing before you. It is good to see you after all these years, many of us feared you were lost to us forever."_

Fox glanced at Krystal, he had always suspected she was high ranking on Cerinia, but he had never dug too deeply since she was uncomfortable with the subject. To find out she was a queen though...

Fox startled slightly when he heard her voice in his head. _"I never told you because I didn't want any special treatment. I'm sorry I kept that fact from you."_

Fox focused on Krystal who was watching him instead of the Cerinian in front of her, so he gave her a nod and continued working his way around the cavern. He heard her speak up as she contiued her conversation with the Elder. "But, Queen? What about my parents?"

The Elder shook his head sadly before he placed a soft hand on her shoulder and Fox heard his voice again. _"You are the last of the royalty now my Queen."_

Krystals face fell, and she blinked away tears, but she focused on the here and now. Before long the Cerinians led them back to the surface through a much quicker route then the old temple and they gathered in the village to talk.

Rather, Fox watched as they all sat in a circle and communicated with their minds while he tried really hard to shield his thoughts. This continued well on into the night and Fox was just making ready to lay down when he heard Krystal speak up.

"What?! No...I can't!"

Forgetting about sleep for the moment, Fox stood up and walked over to the fire where Krystal was standing and staring at the elder who had greeted them in the cave. "I have a life in Lylat, a home, a..." She glanced at Fox before she looked away. "...Friends." She finished quietly.

Fox came up to stand next to her. "What's going on?"

The Elder spoke up as Krystal just glanced at the ground. "Queen Krystal seems reluctant to stay where she belongs."

Fox frowned "She belongs with Star Fox." What he didn't say was that she belonged with him, as his mate. "We never expected to find you guys alive here. The rest of Lylat still thinks this planet was destroyed, we need to return and report our findings."

The Elder shook his head. "You may return, but our Queen needs to stay, we have been waiting years for her return."

Fox frowned and crossed his arms. "You can't make her, just like I can't force her to come with me. The choice is hers."

Fox and the Elder fell quiet as they both turned their heads to look at Krystal who was still staring at the grass below her boots, chewing on her lip. She looked up eventually and locked eyes with Fox, and what he saw had him looking away as her voice drifted through his head.

"Fox..." She started out loud, reaching out, but he just took a step back and turned around to walk away.

He only made it a few steps before he stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the crestfallen Krystal. "I don't fault you for your choice Krystal. I really don't, I want you to be happy, and if this is the way you choose to go, then I'll support you all the way." He continued walking. "I'll leave in the morning and report."

Krystal blinked tears out of her eyes as she took a step forward only to stop when the Elder put a hand on her arm. They communicated with each other for a moment before Krystal nodded and headed in the other direction where she was to stay. The Elder watched her go before he made his way over to the shuttle, opening his mind to the distraught mind within.

Fox was laying on a cot in the shuttle, fighting his emotions when the Elder reached out to him. "Go away." Fox said outloud.

"_I wish you to understand something Fox McCloud."_

Fox sighed and rolled over on his cot. "It's not like I could stop you is it?"

He heard the Elder chuckle in his head. _"No, but I think you will like what I have to say." _There was a pause. _"I have been talking with Krystal since she first entered my range, and I wish to tell you something I have noticed. No matter what is going on around her, she is always thinking about you in some way or form."_

Fox scoffed quietly. "So?"

Again that laugh. _"So...should I tell you of her dreams? What I have seen deep inside her heart? What she wishes for with every fiber of her being?"_

Fox sat up and cut his hand through the air. "No! Those are Krystals thoughts, not mine, and certainly not yours! Forget everything you saw or I'll..." Fox trailed off suddenly and sighed.

Outside the Elder smiled _"That is the exact response I wanted to hear Fox."_

Fox glanced through the wall of the shuttle where he assumed the Elder was. "What do you mean?"

"_Because..." _The Elder started with a laugh. _"It tells me that Krystal shares the same view of you, as you do of her."_

Fox was quiet for a long moment before he spoke up. "Oh."

"_Think on that before you give up on her so quickly Fox." _The Elder began to move away from the shuttle. _"Oh, and we can't dive that deep into a person by the way Fox, I just know how she feels from personal experience."_

The Elder left Fox to his thoughts, and the vulpine spent the rest of the night thinking about what tomorrow would bring.

When the sun rose the next day, the shuttle lifted off with out Krystal and flew into the air. Krystal watched from a rise above the village, as the shuttle slowly turned into a speck in the sky before it vanished from her view completely. It was only when she was sure it was gone that she held out a hand and whispered. "Good bye Fox. I'll always love you." She drew her hand back and clenched it over her chest as the first tears slipped out of her eyes.

"I guess its a good thing I decided to stick around then."

Krystal whirled around as Fox crested the rise she was on and moved towards her. "...Fox?"

Fox spread his arms out. "The one and only."

Krystal glanced back towards the sky. "But...the shuttle..."

Fox smiled. "On auto pilot, loaded with a report telling them that we found the planet and we decided to stay here. I also asked that they refrain from sending out anymore scout ships, or telling the team where we are." Fox walked past Krystal and glanced around at the village below them. "I could get used to living here." He turned his view to Krystal. "As long as I get to be with you."

Krystal blinked. "Fox."

"I've thought about it, and I've wasted too much time denying what I was feeling, and I think you have too." He smiled and held out his hand. "What do you say we both stop denying, and start feeling?" He looked away suddenly. "Although I admit I'm not the best at this, so you'll have to help me along the way."

He looked back up and locked eyes with her as she took his paw inside his own. "I think I can help with that." She said softly as she placed her other paw on his cheek and moved in closer. Their lips met for the first time and Fox felt something inside him soar. They parted a few moments later and Krystal smiled. "Thank you Fox, for staying."

Fox returned the smile "For you, I would do anything." He leaned forward into another kiss as the sun continued to rise over their new home.

They parted a few minutes later and Fox felt his brow rise in curiosity as Krystal grinned at him.

"Whats going on?" he asked softly as they stood in the sun.

Krystal just felt her grin grow wider. "I was just wondering..."

Krystal turned around and started walking down the hill towards the village. Fox doing a few quick steps to catch up to her before asking. "Wondering about what?"

Krystal hummed a small tune in the back of her throat as she turned her face to the sun, her smile covering her whole face. "I was just wondering what you thought of the name Marcus."

* * *

_**Well, you know the drill, let me know what your thoughts are, leave a review!**_

_**Speaking of...**_

_**JackLinks: Got ya from right field didn't I? Good : ). Just curious, who were you expecting? Yay, more typos...damn, I hate those ha ha. Again, I'll fix it someday... : P Also, glad to hear that there are more Marcus being born pieces out there. Also, you may prefer visual art, but you should still try, you never know you might be amazing at it. I would even try and help you when I could if you wanted.**_

_**V: I did start off this one knowing it was going to be dark, glad you enjoyed it though. By the by, here is your update : P. As for the Falco x Krystal, that one will be along, just as soon as I get a good idea to go along with it. Same thing for Slippy and his girl, although that one who knows when, because I've never really had any good ideas focused on them.**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Hey, mine too! Also, it makes me feel really awesome to hear you enjoyed the overall storyline. Also, somehow, I'm not shocked to hear that you disliked that Wolf died... hmm...never saw that one coming : P. Also, it just had to be done, Panther is too full of himself to take orders from Fox. As for Wolf, well, Wolf may be 'bad' but he still has a sense of morals that I feel would put him at odds with Fox. If it makes you feel better I didn't want him to go originally, but as long as Wolf is around, Leon would follow him. I've actually toyed around with the idea of making an M rated version, I just am not sure what I would call it, 'Star Fox: The M Rated Destinies' just doesn't flow as well you know?**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews!  
**_

_**So, as you know, I've been taking ideas since the first chapter to turn into Oneshots. Thank you all for that, keep em coming, I have a whole list inside my open office file. Remember to leave a review with your thoughts!**_

_****__**Edit 7-29-13: So, if you liked what you read here, Another author here on FF Net got inspired by my Denial Destiny and asked for permission to basically take the one shot and expand on it. He didn't do too bad of a job with it, I enjoyed reading it so far, and I think you guys might too. So go check out Xxstar-hit96's profile to give it a read, Star Fox: Reunited with Home**_

_**That should be all, so until the next time!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	5. Fated Destiny

_**So, this one came from Wing Ace, I'm not sure if its exactly what he had in mind. But I think it came out pretty good. Also, a side thanks go to K. S. Reynard who inspired a small bit of this chapter, I'm sure he'll spot it when he sees it. Sorry for 'stealing' the idea, it just, its so awesome! Anyway, enough rambling from me! Here is chapter 5: Fated Destiny.**_

* * *

_-Chapter 5: _**Fated Destiny-  
-**_Inspired by: _**Wing Ace**_-_

* * *

"_Not yet."_

Those words echoed around in her head as she walked along the beach, the moon shining down and casting an ethereal glow over the pale sands that guided her on her path. It had only been two weeks since the dangerous mission to destroy the Aparoid queen, and in the distance you could see the ruins of Corneria City. Although the mission had been successful, their losses were great, Star Wolf hadn't been seen since they had helped her and the team reach the core of the hollow planet. The Great Fox had been lost in their initial attack on the planet, and if it hadn't been for what remained of the Cornerian fleet, Star Fox would never had made it back home.

When they had made it home, it was to a ravaged Corneria, with most of the fleet occupied in the attack on the Aparoid home world. There hadn't been much of a defense to stand guard when another Aparoid attack swept over the planet. Millions were dead, and billions would need to be spent on rebuilding, perhaps trillions.

Yet, for all the loss that Lylat had suffered, Krystal couldn't help but smile as she walked along the pale stretch, wiggling her toes deep down into the sand with each step and just enjoying the feeling of the smooth grains as she continued her stroll along one of the few peaceful places left on the planet.

"_Not yet."_

She felt her smile grow a little bit more as she thought about those words again. When he had said them out loud on Sauria, he had immediately said them again as if he doubted them. But she had been able to feel the truth behind the words.

Fox McCloud, so bold, so fearless, yet when it came to her, he was shy, and never seemed to be able to focus. She giggled softly as she thought about how flustered he had gotten when Tricky was teasing him, it had just made her laugh then, like it did now, she found it cute when he acted that way, and he had plenty of chances to act like that since she had joined the team.

Krystal jumped back from the water with a small squeal when a cold wave washed over her feet and up her legs suddenly. It was while she was shaking her feet dry and thinking about slipping them back into her flip flops that she noticed the vulpine further down the beach.

She frowned as she studied the vulpine from the distance, she was sure that the beach was empty when she had started walking, and she couldn't recall watching him walk across to sit down. Yet, there he was, sitting at the very edge of the beach where the swell from the ocean faded and dressed in a loose pair of khaki colored cargo pants. He had on a loose green t-shirt that matched his pants and was gently moving under the sea breeze. He held a piece of yellow cloth in his right hand, and his left hand was holding the white vest that was hanging over his shoulder, keeping it from blowing away.

Krystal waited for a few minutes, just watching the vulpine as he continued to stare out into the sea. Eventually she moved towards him, her curiosity driving her along until she came up next to him and looked out into the sea as well. They stayed like that for a good quarter of hour before the vulpine spoke up in a deep voice. "Nice night."

Krystal nodded before she answered, for some reason feeling safe when she heard his voice. "It is, it seems to be the last peaceful place left on the planet."

The vulpine shook his head. "Yes, Aparoids, nasty things."

Krystal looked down at him. "You've fought them before?"

The vulpine nodded. "Once or twice." they drifted off into silence for a little bit more before he spoke up again. "Why don't you sit down?"

Krystal complied without thinking about it, crossing her legs and dropping down next to the vulpine. She glanced at his face then, but the moon had shifted its glow behind them so his face was cloaked in shadow. Most people would be scared to be out on the beach at night, sitting next to a stranger, but for some reason Krystal felt as safe as she normally did next to Fox.

"What's your name?"

Krystal paused before she answered. "Krystal."

The vulpine chuckled softly and leaned further back into the sand. "Krystal, that's a nice name."

Krystal was silent for another minute, "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

The vulpine looked at her then for the first time and the moonlight cast his features in sharp relief. Krystal couldn't help the small gasp that slipped out of her lips as she took in his slightly wide cheeks and gentle smile, the white coloring on the top of his head running down to his nose. But it was the eyes that cinched it for her, they were the same crystal clear emerald green as Fox's. "I think you know my name." he said softly as she leaned back in shock.

Krystal was quiet for a long moment. "But..." she shook her head, she was well aware of the spiritual boundaries of worlds, so her shock quickly faded to be replaced with joy at seeing James McCloud sitting next to her. "James McCloud, Fox has told me a lot about you."

James laughed again as he turned back to the water. "I imagine he has, I've heard a lot about you from him." Krystal frowned and James continued. "He talks to me a lot still, and I don't blame him, I did the same with my own father, and with Fox's mother after I lost her. I always believed that they could still hear us, glad to see I was right."

Krystal blinked and turned back to the sea. "I assume you're here for a reason? I know you can't just come here whenever you feel like a visit."

James nodded. "Smart too, I like that. I'm sure you're a nice balance for the team to have around." He went quiet for a minute. "You're right of course, I could come here because I could feel the turmoil in my son, and I could feel you as well."

Krystal licked her lips. "Turmoil?"

James laughed and glanced at Krystal. "You don't need to take it as bad Krystal, Fox is just confused right now, he knows what he feels, but he's not sure if you feel the same way." James paused and turned to face Krystal fully. "How do you feel about him?"

Krystal blinked taken back by the question. "Well..."

James laughed again. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Krystal chewed on her lip for a moment. "When I was younger, I had a dream, in it I was supposed to see the face of my soul mate. But...I never did, not what he looked like anyway, I just knew what he would be like."

James smiled. "Let me guess, tough, loyal, honest, and caring?" he brushed his side fur. "Also I'm sure handsome was in there somewhere."

Krystal laughed gently. "If I had to describe Fox, I would choose those words. But I was also add loving, careful, shy, and gentle to it. When I first met Fox on the roof of that temple on Sauria, I felt something inside me. Before I could piece it together though..."

James held up his hand. "My son found himself in another fight to the death with Andross. That crazed ape always seems to show up at the worst times."

Krystal nodded. "I joined the team, and the more time I spent with Fox, the more I was sure he was the one, that it was fate. Now, if I had to choose between finding my home and living with Fox..." Krystal trailed off. "I would choose Fox. I feel complete around him, and I know he feels the same way, he just never says it."

James turned back to the ocean. "That sounds like Fox." James sighed and the two of them lapsed into silence for another half hour.

Eventual Krystal looked at James, and after pausing for a moment, she spoke up. "How does he feel about me? Really?"

James just shook his head. "If only it was that easy...You'll have to ask him yourself." He stood up and looked down at her. "Although I think you already know the answer to that as well." James slipped on the white vest and Krystal spotted the same logo that dotted her own vest. He winked at her as he wrapped the yellow scarf in his hand around his neck. Then he reached under his vest and pulled out a small wooden case. He slid the wooden top off and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses and slipped them on. He closed the case and tucked it back into his vest, glancing down at Krystal again. "If you want to know for sure how Fox feels about you, tell him to check the bottom of his case when you get back."

Krystal frowned and looked at James. "His case?"

James just smiled and tapped the front of his vest where he had tucked his sunglasses case. "I have to go now Krystal, but know that I'm proud of what you and my son have accomplished." James patted Krystal on the shoulder. "Remember what I said." with that James walked off and Krystal turned to watch him go.

Krystal called out as he started to climb the sand dune that led back towards the road. "Should I tell him that I saw you?"

James paused and glanced back over at her, his voice was faint when it reached her ears. "That's up to you, trust your instincts." He turned back around and continued walking. Krystal blinked as a gust of wind struck her from behind. When she opened her eyes and looked for James, he was gone. She glanced down where James had been sitting and felt her eyes widen when she saw the three letters that had been written in the sand.

Krystal turned back to the sea and gazed out at the water, her thoughts jumbled from what just happened. Eventually she stood up and made her way back up the beach and headed for the apartment building where Star Fox was staying. By the time she made it back and opened the door to the room she shared with Fox, the sun was climbing high into the sky and she found Fox waiting for her in the small living room.

"Hi." he said softly as she walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Hi." she replied just as quietly as the moved over to the couch and sat down, she brushed off the sand that was on her legs as Fox sat down next to her.

"I was worried about you."

Krystal glanced up at him and smiled sadly. "Sorry, I know I said I was going out for a quick walk. But, I ran into somebody and ended up talking with them for most of the night, and then I was just sitting on the beach thinking until the sun started to rise." She reached out a paw to rest it on his knee. "Sorry if I worried you."

Fox glanced down at her paw before he took in gently in his own and smiled at her. "Its alright Krystal, no need to apologize, I know you can take care of yourself. I just...I was worried, couldn't help it."

Krystals smile got brighter and she thought back to what James had told her. "Hey Fox, I just thought of something."

"Oh what was that?"

"Don't you have your dads old sunglasses?"

Fox looked at her curiously "I do...why?"

Krystal just shrugged. "Peppy told me about them, and I was wondering if I could see them. I know they mean a lot to you."

Fox paused for a moment before he stood up and walked into his room where he was keeping his stuff. He came out a few moments later holding a wooden case in his hands. He sat down next to her and slowly slid open the top, there resting on a bed of velvet was the same sunglasses she saw James put on. He rubbed his finger across the top of them and smiled sadly.

Krystal meanwhile was studying the box, and she gasped softly when she focused on the bottom.

Fox glanced at her. "What's wrong?"

Krystal pointed to the bottom. "It looks like that back panel is coming off."

Fox took the sunglasses out and laid them on the table in front of them before he flipped the box over. He rubbed his finger over the loose back panel. "When did that happen?" he asked softly as he slid the piece to the side.

"It looks like there's something inside." Krystal said pointing out the small glint of metal they could see through the crack.

Fox felt his eyes widen as he saw what Krystal was pointing out. "How did I miss this?" he wiggled a claw into the crack and slid the panel fully out to the side. He let out a small gasp as did Krystal when they both saw what was inside the case.

Two rings sat nestled into brackets, one made of polished silver with the symbol of an Arwing carved in three different times along the wing, together the images showed the craft barrel rolling. Next to that ring was another silver ring, but this one had a series of small diamonds inlaid into the band in a flowing pattern.

Fox reached out slowly and picked up the plain silver ring, holding it in his palm he could see the initials inscribed into the inside of the ring. JMC. He closed his paw around the ring as tears came to his eyes.

"Are those?" Krystal asked quietly.

Fox nodded in response to her question. After a minute he opened his eyes and picked up his mothers ring. He held it between two fingers for a moment, his eyes drawn to the four letters on the inside. VRMC. Fox felt the tears start to fight for dominance again and he looked at Krystal. "My parents loved each other, and often said that they were soul mates."

Krystal was silent as she watched Fox.

He held out his paw, his moms ring in his palm. "I don't know if we're ready for this yet. But I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now." He glanced down at the ring in his paw for a moment before he locked eyes with Krystal. "I don't know what I would do without you Krystal. I don't need your answer right now, but I want you to at least think about it."

Krystal looked down and reached out slowly to take the ring in a gentle grip between two of her fingers. She placed it back in Foxs paw, whose face started to fall, at least until she stuck out her hand, her fingers splayed.

As Krystal and Fox locked eyes again, Krystal smiled as she thought about those three letters that James had left in the sand. "I've always liked the name Krystal McCloud."

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_**Well, there ya go, I think it got a little rough there at the end, but overall this is my favorite 'happy' chapter so far. I loved coming up with stuff for James and Krystal to talk about as well. So, if you enjoyed it, leave a review! They tell me how I'm doing, or rather, you tell me how I'm doing, and that is a big part of my drive when I'm writing. So take a few minutes to fill out that box for me will ya? Oh, speaking of...**_

_**Guest Reviews:**_

_**JackLinks: Glad you're still enjoying! As for the Cerinians, there do seem to be a rather large lack of them here. I shall have to do my best to counter this. With the Commander, I just wanted a shadowy guy for people to fill in their own thoughts, glad to see that worked. As for you writing...what you said so far has reminded me of a story. **_

_**Its the story of a guy called Striker. Striker you see, he was into Video Games and Animation, and he was pretty good at gaming, and alright when it came to animating. One day, while he was hanging out with his friend, Striker saw him on FF net, and asked him what that was. His friend explained it to him and Striker laughed originally, but what he saw there, it got his mind thinking, and he wrote something in secret. He worked on it for a little while, and he left it alone. Eventually Striker showed his friend what he wrote, and his friend wanted to know who wrote it. Striker told him, and his friend encouraged him to post on FF net. One thing led to another, and eventually Emile The Watcher was born. **_

_**That's the short version of course, but I really never thought writing was something I would be good at. I almost failed English a few times and I just always hated typing up papers and anything. Yet, here I am. You should at least try to write something before you dismiss it outright. As for bugging me, trust me, you won't. I would look forward to it, although you would have to factor in that I'm not always available, work and what not. If you don't want to, fine, I wont press the issue. : ) **_

_**Blake O'Donnell: I should hope Dead Planet is better, I work for a few weeks on every chapter of Dead Planet, where the most I usually spend on one of theses average in around 2 to 3 hours. Also, I can see how this could remind you of Dead Planet, you should go read it again : P As for the name, that's cool to know, and on your idea, I'll repeat what I've said to Jack, you should try and write it out, I think it would make for a good story.**_

_**V: There are over two-thousand stories in the Star Fox section of this site, and I can't help but think that maybe ten percent aren't focused on Fox x Krystal stuff . As for replying to your comment, you take the time to leave a review, I will make time to get you a reply. Its the least I can do : D Sorry about this one being another Fox X Krystal one, the next one won't be. Promise.**_

_**Speaking of the next update to here, you may have noticed when I started this, a flood of updates for this series. That's because I started this the day before I went on vacation, plenty of time to type and what not there. But now I'm back home and back to work, so updates will be slowing down to once a week, I'll be trying to get them out every Saturday, but, no promises on that end.**_

_**Otherwise, I think that should be everything. Thanks for reading and thanks to my Guests for reviewing! **_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	6. Running Destiny

_**Mmmk...So, I think we've reached the destiny that just...meh...I liked the idea, and I thought it was good when I wrote it a few days ago, but now...I dunno, at 3am, something just doesn't fit right. That and I couldn't think of a clever title to use. Went through like three different ones before I settled on this one. So, here be Chapter 6, the Running Destiny.**_

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_-Chapter 6: _**Running Destiny-  
-**_Inspired by: _**A Fan Picture**_-_

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Fox McCloud glanced around him as he made his way through the mining town on Macbeth. His senses were alert and his muzzle was covered by a bandana, the best filter he could afford between him and all the dust that sat in the air of the mining planet. He worked his way through the market looking for his target. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt, not the best disguise since everybody else wore cloaks or overalls and moved around in groups. But Fox was okay as long as they didn't peg him as the old leader of Star Fox. Of course, his custom blaster strung across his hip did a lot to keep people from bugging him..

As he climbed a ladder to an upper level to avoid some of the bustle, he felt his thoughts drifting back to his old team. They had been the best of the best, putting a stop to Andross and even the Aparoids. Yet that had all changed once he kicked Krystal off the team. He had thought he had been doing what was best for her at the time. But everything quickly fell apart after that.

Their jobs dried up and Falco said that he was going lone wolf again to find some actual money and would be back when Star Fox was back on its feet. Last he had heard, Katt Monroe had finally managed to settle down the hot head and they now ran a mechanic shop while freelancing every now and then. Peppy finally retired to a house on Corneria where he stayed for a year before Pepper retired and named Peppy his successor. Slippy got a job working with Corneria R and D stuff with his dad and a female toad that he was quite smitten with. Krystal...Krystal vanished. Fox tried to track her down a few years ago, his search had even taken him outside of the Lylat system. Yet he never was able to find her, never once was able to tell her he was sorry for what he did.

Now, here he was, a bounty hunter with an ancient dreadnaught stuck in dock on Papetoon and a Arwing that was quickly approaching its last legs. He ducked into an alcove and tapped the gauntlet on his hand. It sputtered once and gave him a slight shock before it kicked to life, showing what he knew about his current target. He mumbled to himself as he read through the files hovering above his gauntlet.

"Sky Rain. Wanted dead or alive, for the slaughtering of five different settlements on Katina. Was driven into hiding by the Cornerian Military, thought to be on Zoness." He swapped files with a wave of his fingers. Fox narrowed his eyes at the image. "There you are." The file Fox was staring at was a picture taken from a security camera that showed Sky Rain, a red Lynx of slight build. Across his waist was strung two blasters and his armored combat pants played host to a number of pouches, holding anything from ammo to explosives. He didn't wear a shirt, baring his chest to the world, he had a bandolier attached to his upper body, a sword hanging in a sheath on his back while an old illegal rifle hung from his side. He had four piercings in each ear, the rings forming a square that sat in the tip of his ear. His long hair was dyed black and hung down to touch the bandolier.

Fox glanced over his shoulder at the camera that was mounted on the wall above him. "Well, I know where the picture was taken. Time to ask around." Fox closed the files on his gauntlet, letting out a small hiss when it shocked him again. He made his way through the upper levels, asking around if anybody had seen his 'friend' Eventually somebody told him how they had spotted him going down one of the old shafts that led to the mines below.

Which found Fox standing outside the entrance to shaft C-R3, the gloomy looking passage filling Fox with a feeling of dread. Shaking his head, he pulled his blaster from its holster and checked its charge. He activated the built in flashlight and kept it pointed in front of him as he proceeded down the shaft. After an hour of walking Fox found himself heading down a rickety metal stair way. He gave a worried glance down whenever the metal creaked beneath him, but he pushed on. He needed the bounty on this guy if he was even going to have enough money to get off planet. He reached the bottom of the stairwell and glanced around the landing. A body about his size was laid up against the side, covered in rags. Not sure if the person was alive or dead, Fox ignored them and pushed on, determined to find Sky before too late.

Fox was so focused on looking for side hallways that when he set his foot down and it sank into murky water and grime he couldn't help the startled curse that escaped his lips. He glanced around to see if there was anyway to move on without getting wet, before sighing and plunging his other leg into the watery gunk. He continued this way for another ten minutes, kicking aside discarded metal and tripping over a few submerged rocks before he turned a corner and his light illuminated writing on the wall.

"Well, that's charming." he said quietly as studied the writing, amongst the normal gang scribblings and markings, somebody had written in big read letters. "No Exit, Except Death."

As if by magic, as he finished mumbling to himself his comm unit blasted static, Fox tapped his ear where he kept the unit and glanced up as the static continued to pulse into his ear. "Hello?" Fox asked, hoping for an answer, even though that would have shocked him considering how far down he was. Fox felt his ear twitch as the sound of something being put slowly into water reached him. Reacting first Fox ducked under the blaster bolt that scored over his head, reaching out with his foot and driving a punishing kick into the ragged being behind him.

They grunted softly as they backed up two steps, dropping their blaster into the gunk as they did. The figure paused for a moment before raising their fists. Fox copied the pose and dashed forward quickly, planting two sharp blows on the being and feeling the punches land on the body beneath the rags. After they traded a series of blows Fox realized this was the same person he had passed before.

"Guess you're not dead after all." he grumbled to himself as he ducked a vicious swing and responded with a powerful uppercut that sent his opponent stumbling. This continued for another ten minutes, Fox landing blows and dodging most of his opponents. A strong blow across his face, had Fox stumbling into the wall, his hands disappearing under the grimy water as he did so. His opponent took the time to go back to where they had lost their blaster and grab it. As they approached Fox and raised the blaster he grinned and swung up with the re-bar that he had grabbed under the water.

He knocked his opponents blaster out of his hand and broke it in half when it hit the wall next to him. Next Fox lowered his swing and took his opponents legs out from under them. As they fell backwards into the dark water, their hood fell back slightly and Fox rested the re-bar on the exposed neck. "Move, and you're dead." He said softly as the figure started to rise.

"You cheated."

Fox blinked and backed up, shock evident on his face. The figure stood up and pulled off the dripping wet rags that covered her armor. Standing there in a slick set of black and purple combat armor, complete with two holsters strung across her body, was Krystal.

She had changed her looks, her hair, normally kept short and in place with silver beads was now a wicked looking purple and done up in braids that ran half way down her back. Her eyes were hard and uncaring and she stared at Fox with a frown that reached her very soul.

"Krystal?" Fox asked quietly. 'Krystal' scoffed and darted out her leg in a quick kick that knocked Fox's legs out from underneath him, dumping him into the water. Fox spluttered as he sat up in the water brushing it off his face. "What was that for?" he sputtered.

Krystal shook her arm to get some of the water off her armor. "That was payback. By the way, the name is Kursed now." with that she walked past Fox as he stood up, he watched her go, leaving little wakes behind her as she moved towards a raised platform where a camp had been set up.

Kursed vaulted up onto the platform and sighed in disgust as she shook her arms again. Fox moved closer to listen to her muttering. "Damn him, the water got into my under suit as well." She walked over to where a small pile of wood sat and she bent down, pulling something off her thigh. A quick moment later a fire was blazing and Kursed was sitting in front of it.

Fox pulled himself up onto the platform as well and walked towards the fire.

"Piss off Fox, go find your own spot."

Fox froze at the venom in her voice. "Krystal, what happened to you?"

Kursed glanced over her shoulder at him. "I told you, its Kursed, and if you know whats good for you, you'll move on."

Fox shook his head. "Can't, I'm chasing somebody."

Kursed shook her head. "Great, that's all I need, some pathetic competition." She stared at the fire as she put her hands out to try and get the gloves dry. "Let me guess, Sky Rain right?"

Fox was quiet for a moment. "How did you know that?"

Kursed scoffed again. "Only bounty worth anything on Macbeth." she paused. "Why are you chasing bounties anyway? Shouldn't you be out and about with the rest of the team?"

Fox shivered slightly. "It's a long story." he said softly as his teeth chattered lightly.

Kursed glanced over her shoulder at him before she sighed. "Come sit down."

Fox gave a sigh of relief and sat down across from Kursed, warming his hands near the fire and staring at Kursed over the flames. "Thanks." he said quietly before he cleared his throat. "The team...well, we broke up. Star Fox isn't anymore, there's just Fox McCloud, Bounty Hunter." he rubbed his shoulders to get some warmth into them. "After you left the team-"

Kursed snorted "After you kicked me off the team you mean. Get it right Fox."

Fox paused before he nodded. "After I stupidly kicked you off the team." Fox paused, "Everything just fell apart. Falco left to go lone wolf again, Peppy retired, and Slippy went to work for Corneria. Eventually I ran out of money and had to ground the Great Fox on Papetoon and just use my Arwing. Even then, I had to sell the other three just to pay bills. If I don't bring this mark in, I may just have to sell the Great Fox too."

Kursed laughed softly. "Damn, you really hit bottom huh?"

Fox picked at his still damp sleeve "You could say that. What about you? Why are you here?"

Kursed stood up and started pulling off her armor pieces, setting them next to the fire as she removed them. "After you kicked me off the team, I ran off, I was angry at you, so I joined Star Wolf to get back at you. That didn't work out, so I set out to see if I could find other survivors from my planet. My money only got me so far, and eventually I ended up broke and needing quick cash. So I turned to bounty Hunting, turns out, I'm pretty damn good at it."

Fox nodded. "So all these years? You've just been bouncing around Lylat chasing marks?"

Kursed shook her head. "No actually, I've only been back in Lylat for the past month. There's a lot of worlds out there Fox, and a lot of marks worth quite a bit to the locals." She placed the last of her plates down in the stack and moved over to a bag. She reached into the bag and felt around for a moment before she spoke up. "Turn around."

Fox blinked "Why?"

Kursed glared at Fox over her shoulder. "Because, I need to get out of my soaking wet under suit. So...Turn. Around."

Fox put his hands down and scooted around until his back was to Kursed. "You're not going to try and kill me again are you?"

Kursed voice was distracted as she answered him. "Tempting, but no. Besides, that bolt wouldn't have killed you, it was set on stun. It would have been painful as all hell, but it wouldn't have killed you."

Fox felt his ears twitch at the sound of a zipper, and a few moments later he heard Kursed sigh softly. "There, that's better, you can turn around now."

"So why did you try to stun me?" he asked as he scooted around back to face her and the fire. Her under suit was laying next to her armor and she was now dressed in jeans and a black shirt. She was sitting with one leg up and the other stretched out with one of her arms resting on her raised leg.

Kursed shrugged. "You were in my way, and a part of me is still angry with you."

Fox was quiet. "It was five years ago."

Kursed was quick with her own response. "Yeah, and I loved you."

Fox was silent for a few minutes. "Would it help if I said I was sorry?" Kursed just started at him so he sighed and continued "I'm sorry for kicking you off the team Kursed. It has to be the absolute worst decision I have ever made in my life. It ruined the team, and it ruined my life. At the time, I was doing what I thought would keep you safe. Every mission I was so scared that something would happen and that you would be taken from me just like everybody else I love. I did what I thought was right, but now all I wish is that I could take it back."

Kursed was silent for a moment before she clapped her hands twice. "Bravo Fox, I'm glad you could come down off you're pedestal and see that you were wrong." She raised a finger. "But, its a little late for all that sappy heartfelt crap. I'm over you, have been for a few years now."

Fox nodded. "I'm not really surprised, nor can I blame you." he sighed softly. "So what now?"

Kursed raised an eyebrow. "I wait for my armor to dry then I'm going to go ferret out Sky Rain and put a stun blast right between his eyes. Then I'm going to turn him in and move on, just like I've been doing for the past four years." She pointed at him lazily with her finger. "You, you can turn your ass around and leave Macbeth."

Fox shook his head. "Would love too, but can't. I need to turn in this guy to the local office just to afford the space port fees."

Kursed laughed again. "You're that broke?" she shook her head. "How the mighty have fallen."

Fox shook his own head. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Glad I can amuse you."

Kursed pretended to wipe a tear of mirth from her eye before she sighed as she settled down. "So, how are you going to get off this dirt ball with out Sky?"

Fox was quiet. "I'm not." he was silent for a moment while Kursed stared at him. "If I can't get any money off of this, I might as well shoot myself and save myself the pain of starving to death."

Kursed blinked. "Wow, so morbid." She stood up and moved over to her bags again.

"So, why the name change to Kursed?" Fox asked as she rummaged through her bags.

She shrugged again. "It just felt fitting, I lost my planet, you pushed me away, and I couldn't find anywhere to fit in. I felt like the universe had cursed me. So when I got into Bounty Hunting, I changed a letter and made it my name." She turned around and threw a small chip at Fox.

Fox caught it in one hand and locked gazes with her before glancing down at the chip in his palm. "That's a lot of credits Kursed."

Kursed sat down again with a sigh. "Yea, should get you off planet and back to the Great Fox." she was quiet for another moment. "Get out of this life Fox, get another team, however you can, go be a Merc again. It seems to be the only thing you're good at."

Fox locked gazes with her again. "I don't suppose-"

Kursed shook her head. "No. I know what I'm doing with my life. You, you need to go get yours figured out."

Fox nodded again and tucked the chip into his pocket. "Thanks." he said quietly.

"Consider it payment for keeping me amused." Kursed laid down next to the fire, her back to Fox. "Now, go to sleep." Fox nodded and laid down, where he stared at her back until sleep overcame him.

When he woke up the next morning, the camp had been taken apart save for the smoldering remains of the fire and there was no sign of Kursed. Fox felt in his pocket for the credit chip, pulling it out and staring at it. He flicked it into the air and caught the chip before he pocketed it again and turned around, heading back the way he came last night.

After he made it back and paid off his docking fees, he got his ship refueled and armed before he took off for Papetoon. He still had a small amount of money left on the chip, and he knew what he was going to do with it. As he left the atmosphere and set about setting up a warp he saw a blue and purple ship that almost look like a Cloud-runner from Sauria pass him by. He waited a moment before he gave a salute though his cockpit window and watched the ship disappear into a warp. He turned his gaze back to his controls and set about launching his own warp.

His trip to Macbeth may not have planned out as he had hoped, but Fox still felt better then he had in years. Something had been settled inside him, something that had been eating at his conscious for a while now. It may not have been the reunion he had been hoping for, but seeing Kursed living her life the way she wanted...it let him be at peace. As he powered up his engine for the warp, he smiled and thought about what Falco was going to say when Fox told him Star Fox was back in the game.

* * *

_**So...Bad? Horrible? Disgusting? Or is it somewhat passable? You should let me know in a review. I do know what the next three chapters are going to be though, and I'm looking forward to them. Also don't forget, I'm always looking out for ideas!**_

_**Speaking of, the Fan picture this one was inspired by shows Fox working his way through a flooded tunnel while Kursed comes up behind him with a Blaster aimed at the back of his head. I had originally planned on turning this into a fight between them, then a race to get to Sky first, but...That type of stuff is done a lot, so I decided to try something different.**_

_**Okay... Guest Reviews!**_

_**JackLinks: You should go Read K. S. Reynards story then, cause that is where I stole the idea from. Also, yay no mistakes, and I'm not stalking you. -Pulls on Ski Mask and sits outside your window- No...Not at all...When you do get up and about with Writing, and you want any help, like I said, feel free to contact me, you can hit me up through Facebook, or if you create an account here, through PM's and all that. Good luck with it : D**_

_**V: Heres your update! Its Fox and Kursed, kinda a loop hole, but its not Krystal and Fox. Also, I'm, starting to get a general idea for a Falco and Krystal Destiny. So hopefully that will get written soon.**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Ding! Idea! So that brings my pending things up to four now. I can also relate to the writers block, Dead Planet currently has a nice sized one blocking my way, while everything for Destinies still flows, hence them getting updated. Here's hoping that block of yours fades!**_

_**Thanks for the reviews!**_

_**So, that should be everything that I can think of right now, so until next week, **_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	7. Coping Destiny

_**Well, It's now Saturday, 0257 in the morning, I'm getting ready to head off to bed, so that must mean its time for another update to this story! Yay! Not much to say on this one, just that it is inspired off a song and as such it might seem to flow kinda weird, but I liked its overall effect. Enjoy the Coping Destiny!**_

* * *

_-Chapter 7: _**Coping Destiny-  
-**_Inspired by: _**A ****Country Song**_-_

* * *

"_Barrel roll Krys!."_

Krystal jammed her right foot down on her pedal and jerked her twin sticks in opposite directions, one down, the other up. Her Arwing IV responded to her sudden input like a dream, boosting and snapping into a barrel roll in time to deflect the dark purple lasers that had been fired on her. The smart energy system that Slippy had invented took it one step further and cycled a pulse along her spin that sent the beams of cutting energy right back into their source.

Before the pirate could even begin to react, his own lasers tore his ship apart and ended his life.

"_Damn Krystal that was smooth."_

Krystal keyed her comms as she brought her ship in behind another pirate. "Thanks Falco, and thank you Fay for the alert." she paused as she lined up a shot and reached out to the mind of the pirate ahead of her, judging what he would do when she fired. "But we still have six ships and two cruisers left to take out, so lets focus on that." Krystal fired once then quickly adjusted her aim and fired again. The Pirate pulled a hard right that took him right into the path of Krystal second laser shot. The unshielded craft was vaporized in an instant by the powerful hyper beam weapons of her fighter.

"_Ha Ha, take that Pirates! That'll teach you to mess with people going through Meteos while Star Fox is on patrol." _Falcos jubilant cry was followed by the flash of one of the Pirate cruisers exploding as Falco destroyed its final sheet of armor around its core and triggered an explosion. The giant flash ripping the ship apart and sending the debris everywhere.

"_Krystal, Careful, that last Frigate is up to something. I'm picking up a large build up of energy, and it's not normal for a warp jump."_

Krystal brought her fighter around. "Thanks for the heads up Slippy. Alright you heard him, focus on the last frigate. Who knows what kind of tech they might have salvaged."

"_Ha! Don't Bother! I got this!" _This voice was that of Miyu Linx, a pilot just as cocky and skilled as Falco. Her Arwing came tearing out of the pirate frigates landing bay right as a fireball erupted out and chain reacted through the ship, quickly rendering it into so much space junk. Krystal brought her fighter in on the last pirate as he made for the edge of Meteos. She took a brief moment to lock on before she used her thumb to slid the safety cover off her missile button. As soon as the computer beeped its alert she pressed the button and felt her craft shake slightly as the smart bomb raced from its port below her cockpit and speed after the fleeing pirate, catching up and exploding in a matter of moments.

Krystal brought her Arwing to a stop, checking sensors to make sure that all the pirates had been taken care of. "Sound off."

"_Fay here, a little damaged on my left wing, but other wise I'm fine."_

"_Ha, those guys couldn't even touch me."_

Krystal waited a moment. "Miyu?"

"_Uh...I kinda hope Slippy doesn't have any plans for tonight..."_

Krystal sighed and shook her head as Slippy groaned over the radio. Miyu, while just as skilled as any of them had a reputation for always damaging her fighters to the point of uselessness, and it appeared as if this battle hadn't been any different.

Krystal brought her fighter around, aiming it back towards Corneria. "Sorry Slippy, it looks like you'll be staying in the base tonight. Do you want me to take the heat from Amanda for you?"

"_No thanks Krystal. I'll deal with it. Just head on back so we can get the fighters locked down for the night and get our pay from General Pepper."_

Without out a further word, Krystal led her team back towards Corneria, and back towards their home base, where Slippy and ROB waited. It wasn't long before Krystal brought her Arwing in for a smooth landing in the main bay of Star Fox HQ. As she had come down she had spared a look over at the Great Fox sitting in dock behind the base, ready to launch at a moments notice. But since the Pirates were operation out of Meteos, she and Slippy had elected to leave the dreadnaught behind. Krystal popped her canopy as Falco landed next to her, followed shortly by Fay and Miyu. She hopped out of her fighter and landed gracefully on the ground, straightening and running a hand through her hair as she walked away from the Arwing.

"Hey Krystal! Wait up!." Krystal stopped and turned to face Falco as he hopped from his fighter. He was dressed in his red combat armor, minus his shoulder pads and his boots clunked loudly as he trotted across the hanger towards her. "Do you want to head out to the bar tonight?" Falco paused and made a few quick jabs at the air. "You know, celebrate kicking those Pirates butts?"

Krystal shook her head as Miyu and Fay both walked up to them. Miyu calling out as they approached. "Falco, you know I'm always up for a bar run! Lets get out of this armor and get going." The brown and black spotted lynx turned to the spaniel next to her and pushed her gently on the shoulder. "You coming Fay?"

The white spaniel shook her head and walked off leaving the three of them alone. Falco and Miyu stood shoulder to shoulder and crossed their arms. "So how about it Krystal?" Miyu started. "You in?" Falco finished for her.

Krystal just shook her head again. "Sorry guys, not tonight. I have plans."

Both of their faces fell as the realized what day it was. "Right." This was Miyu. "I guess I'll go get changed then." She turned around and headed off at a brisk walk towards the locker room. Falco rubbed the back of his head. "So...did you go out to see him at all?"

Krystal crossed her arms, her gaze drawn momentarily to the ring on her finger. "No, I didn't get a chance before we went after the pirates."

Falco was quiet for a few moments more. "You know that-"

Krystal raised a hand, knowing what he was going to say. "Everybody has their own way of dealing with it Falco. This is mine."

Falco nodded "Fair 'nuff." He backed away "I'm off to meet up with Miyu then. Later." with that, the avian turned around and took off at a jog for the mens locker rooms. Krystal headed for her own room, planning on getting out of her own blue combat armor.

A few hours later, as night started to fall on Corneria, Krystal McCloud walked into the hanger bay. She was dressed in loose jeans and had on her favorite green shirt. She had her flight vest on and a chain around her neck. As she walked across the hanger she keyed the comm she kept in her ear. "ROB, get the ship ready. I'll be leaving soon."

ROB didn't answer her, not vocally, instead, a door in the roof of the hanger split in half and revealed an old Arwing II model, scored with laser marks and other battle damage, the white paint was faded and the blue along the engines had faded into the original metal color. The Arwing was lowered into the loading dock and Krystal slowly walked a circle around it, checking it for further damage, making sure it was still space worthy. She placed a hand on its hull and ran it along as she walked. After her check she pulled herself up onto the wing and opened the canopy, dropping into the cockpit seat and starting the warm up of the engines. The canopy auto closed and Krystal ran her eyes across the dash in front of her as it came to life with lights.

Krystal bent down and opened the small storage area below the seat. Inside sat a few clothing items. A white shirt with the Cornerian Army shirt folded up neatly, a matching cap promoting the Cornerian Bulldog sports team sat next to it. Krystal reached for the cap and pulled it over her head, letting her ears pop out through the holes on the top. Then she took the shirt in a gentle grip and hugged it to her chest for a moment before she lifted it to her nose and inhaled deeply, her eyes closed as she let her mind drift.

She opened her eyes as the computer beeped at her, signaling the ship was ready to fly. She tucked the shirt back where it belong and Krystal laid her hands on the flight sticks. She closed her eyes once more and inhaled again.

When she exhaled the first sob escaped her lips. It was quiet at first, but before long the tears were freely flowing down her cheeks, being absorbed by her fur at first but still eventually making their way down her face to drip off into her lap. She stayed that way for ten long minutes, just letting the tears flow, her vision blurred as she looked around the cockpit again.

Eventually her vision cleared and like that Krystal pressed down on the pedal that shot the Arwing out of the hanger before she pulled back on the sticks sending the old fighter soaring gracefully into the air. The Arwing II was an extremely old and outdated model at this point, and its G-Diffuser just wasn't as capable of long flight like the newer version in the Arwing IV. But Krystal would never get rid of this fighter. As she left Corneria behind and the blackness of space greeted her, Krystal felt something inside of her reach out as if she wasn't alone up here.

She set her course for the Meteos belt that she had just been in this morning. This time though, she had a completely different goal in mind. As she entered the belt, she brought the ship to a stop. She reached underneath her shirt and felt for the two small pieces of metal attached to the chain. She pulled them out slowly and let them dangle from her grip. Her eyes locked on the name punched into the metal.

Krystal dropped the metal down onto her chest as she yelled out a curse and slammed the thruster pedal down, shooting into the asteroid belt in front of her. Day after day, month after month, she put on this tough exterior as the leader of Star Fox. But tonight, tonight of all nights, she was allowed to be herself. Tonight she was allowed to let the tears flow, allowed to take risks, and she took a lot of risks.

Her vision blurred slightly as the tears returned again, but her focus was on the field in front of her as she pushed the Arwing to its limits, dodging around the smaller asteroids and skimming along the surface of the bigger ones. She kept this up for a few minutes before she saw a couple of the larger rocks heading for each other. Her ears lowered against her head as she pressed the pedal as hard as she could, keeping her ship steady as she raced for the closing gap, determined to beat the rocks before the hit each other. At the last moment she used her left thumb to trigger the boost and the Arwing shot into the closing gap, and Krystal's vision was dominated by the rough surface of the giant boulders about to crush her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back...

Then she was through and she opened her eyes, a single word blasting out of her lips as she blasted clear out of the danger zone of the belt. "Why!" She screamed out, again and again.

"Why not me?!"

"What did he do!?

"Why did you take him!?"

Each shout was louder then the last and the tears were flowing fast and free again. Krystal beat her fist against the side of the cockpit. Quiet settling over her for a few moments as the adrenalin of racing the rocks faded. She stayed that way for a long time, her head bowed, and her chest heaving with her quet sobs.

Then just like that. anger flushed her system suddenly, and she started talking again, but instead of questions this time, her words were foul and she cursed every god she could think of as she futility rubbed at her eyes to try and stop the tears.

As she finished clearing her eyes of tears, she blinked and started out into space. Hey eyes narrowed as she saw what caught her attention the first time.

There! A small glint of white. Krystal grabbed the flight sticks and sent her Arwing flying back into the asteroid belt, chasing after that white speck. She flicked her boost as she spotted the ship hug an asteroid in a sharp turn. As she rounded the edge, the ship blasted past her heading the other way and Krystal cursed softly as she tapped the brakes and pulled into a S turn. She nicked an asteroid during her flip and she watched as the shield bar around her Arwing dropped massively.

She took in the alert with a quick glance before she ignored it, her focus solely on the mystery ship. She could see it ahead of her. It was defiantly a fighter, and an Arwing. As she got closer, she realized that the ship was an Arwing II model, just like that one she was flying right now. Only this one was spotless and even looked almost new. Krystal frowned as she got closer, she glanced down at her radar, checking to see if the ship was showing up.

Confused, Krystal turned her gaze back to the ship, only to curse again when it suddenly took off. Krystal shook her head as she followed the ship. The risks that she had just taken earlier forgotten as she strained her skills to keep up with the other ship, the entire time, trying to see into the cockpit. She had to know, had to be sure. Their path through the field was erratic, and dangerous, more then once Krystal made it though by the smallest sliver of space between her ships shields and the large rocks floating in space. Up here, through this hallowed out rock, a tunnel filled with crisscrossing spires of rock, and constantly spinning. Down through here, past rocks and the debris of a large ship that she had once been told about. To the left here, only to pull a sharp right to avoid crashing rocks then down again to squeeze through three of them right before they collided.

By the time all was said and done, Krystal's nerves were almost shot. She finally followed the other ship out of the Meteo belt, where it slowed down enough that Krystal could bring her own fighter up next to it. She turned her gaze to the cockpit and tried to peer inside, but all she could see was the outline of a vulpine. She reached out with her powers and tried to determine who, or what the pilots was. But all she got was a warm and welcoming feeling, a feeling of love and safety. The mystery pilot gave her a salute and almost looked like he blew her a kiss. Before she could begin to puzzle out if she was right or not, the fighter pulled sudden turn and by the time Krystal brought her own fighter around, the vast nothing of space greeted her.

Krystal cursed herself again as she glanced at her hud and saw how much time she had spent in the air. Giving one last look to the rocks of Meteo, she turned her ship back towards Corneria and headed for home.

* * *

A few days later, Krystal was busy with the busy day to day stuff of running Star Fox. Ordering supplies, making sure all of her pilots and employees got paid, and keeping her eyes peeled for new contracts to get her team through the next few months. Lylat wasn't always in peril, so they didn't always end up with the high paying military jobs. It was filling out one of these expense reports that she heard a knock on her door.

She spared a brief moment to reach out and find Slippy on the other side before she called out. "Enter."

Slippy walked in with a data pad held in his hands. "Hey Krystal, It took a few days, but I managed to track down every Arwing Mark II that Space Dynamics has made." He called up a report before handing the pad to Krystal who took it and browsed through the notes.

"Every single one is accounted for?" She glanced up from the pad. "You're sure?"

Slippy frowned. "Of course I'm sure, I keep records of everything I've every made and sent out to Space Dynamics to be built." He scoffed, "I'm insulted that you would think I was wrong."

Krystal laughed softly at his pose and face before she held the pad out for him to take. "You're right Slippy, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you."

Slippy eyed her for a moment before he smiled and took the pad. "Not a problem Krystal." he turned to leave but he turned around before he reached the door. "Hey Krystal, if you don't mind me asking, what was this all about anyway?"

Krystal sighed and looked at a picture of her Fox standing next to each other, holding hands, her in a white dress and him in a black tux. "Just...coping I guess." she glanced at Slippy. "Thanks for indulging me."

Slippy frowned slightly at her. "Coping huh?" he shrugged. "Okay, I'll take that." he turned and left the room, the door sliding shut behind him, leaving Krystal once again alone with her thoughts. It wasn't long before she stood up from her chair and grabbed her jacket before she left her room and and made her way through the base to the garage. She walked over to her hover bike and threw her leg over it, the palm scanner built into the throttle recognizing her and starting the bike. She gunned the engine and tore out of the garage heading for the outskirts of Corneria City.

It wasn't long before she reached her goal.

She pulled into the cemetery and slowed down out of respect for the fallen as she made her way to a large hill near the back. She pulled up the bottom of the hill and slid off the bike, she quickly made her way up the hill to the top where a set of gravestones waited her. She came to a stop in front of the first two and dropped to her knees, offering a prayer to those that she had never met.

She walked away from James and Vixy McClouds grave markers and walked over to the third one. Here she paused and had to wipe her eyes clear of tears. She sat down slowly and stared at the stone in front of her. She closed her eyes and slipped into a meditative trance.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun was starting to set beyond the horizon. Krystal stood up and placed a hand on top of the gravestone. "I'll keep being strong, for you." she stayed that way for a few moments before she turned and started walking down the hill. She paused before she got to far though and she turned to face the marker one last time. "I still love you, and I miss you every day." With those last words Krystal made her way down the hill, leaving the marker with the words 'Fox McCloud, Beloved Son, Hero, and Husband.' behind her, a new strength burning in her soul.

* * *

_**Okay! Review! Let me know what you think!**_

_**So, while you're all busy typing out those Reviews, time to reply to those awesome Guests of mine!:**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: I dunno, that last chapter, something just felt off, as for Command though, I agree with you, not a big fan of it. Not to mention the game killed the series because Nintendo doesn't want to come out with a sequel and be like 'this be official ending and what not' and suffer all the butt hurt rage from the fans that wanted a different ending to be official. I said as much in my first chapter for ReArmed Conflict ha ha.**_

_**JackLinks: Yay! As for tips and time, I don't really have any, I suffer from insomnia and ADHD, so I don't sleep much at night, which is why most of my uploads are at 3 to 4 in the morning. Also, when I know what I'm after, I type fast, almost stupidly fast, admittedly with out spell check you wouldn't be able to understand most of it. But when I'm on a roll I can punch out a long chapter for something like Dead Planet in a few hours at most. Just keep something with you at all times that you can put ideas in, like I said in the first chapter I had a giant sketch book that serves as my writing table for some reason. Good luck with it!**_

_**So, two bits of news for you all:**_

_**First off, this series was started as a dumping ground for my ideas so that I can get them out of my head and allow me to focus on one of my other stories. That being said, updates to this are going to be...random at this point on, since my Writers block on my other stories seems to have faded away. I have a lot planned for the next few months for my stories, and a lot to write, so I want to get working on that. For those of you who read Dead Planet you can guess what that means :P **_

_**Second, I was looking through my traffic page and I realized something. I have Six active stories right now. Six! With the way my life is shaping up right now, I just do not have the time to be working on six at once, so I'm going to drop it to three. One of them for sure is going to be Dead Planet, because, hell, I'm just having to much fun writing that, and I don't consider Destinies an active story really since its mostly random idea stuff and it only takes me an hour or so to get a chapter done. **_

_**I'm rambling...Oops, Long story short, there's a poll on my profile page, go there and vote for the two other stories you would like to see me finish. I would much appreciate feedback from my readers : )**_

_**Well, I think that should be everything! Until Next time!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	8. Memories Destiny

_**Hey! I'm back! Look at that, Dead Planet and a Destines update in the same week, lucky you! Anyway, I enjoyed this one and spent a good amount of time thinking about how I would go about it ever since Elarix suggested it to me. I don't know if it matches what he [She? Doesn't have a profile set up, don't know] had in mind, but I like what came out. I looked over this one a few times, but each time it was late at night so I could have missed something, anyway! Enjoy the Memories Destiny!**_

_**Edit 7-29-13: Oh Crap, I totally forgot to mention before. Another author here on FF Net got inspired by my Denial Destiny and asked for permission to basically take the one shot and expand on it. He didn't do too bad of a job with it, I enjoyed reading it so far, and I think you guys might too. So go check out Xxstar-hit96's profile to give it a read, Star Fox: Reunited with Home**_

* * *

_-Chapter 8: _**Memories Destiny-  
-**_Inspired by: _**Elarix**_-_

* * *

Fox coughed as his senses returned. He groaned as he pushed himself on the ground, feeling weight slide along his back to clatter on the ground as he finished raising himself to hands and knees. The best he could do at the moment, considering his pounding head and ringing ears. His mind slowly reconstructing what had caused him to be knocked to the floor underneath the metal panel. Fox glanced around him and blinked slowly as he took in the snow falling through the room.

Snow...

Fox raised himself up to one knee as he remembered.

He was in a shootout with...somebody...Fox glanced around himself again, considering the lack of fire, he figured his opponent was just as damaged as he was from whatever had happened. As his eyes traveled the red walls of the room he saw more pieces of scattered metal, thrown about by some force. He reached a point on the wall that was scorched and what looked like the bottom of barrels melted into the floor. He ran his eyes up along a crack that led to the ceiling and towards where...

He turned around and saw the ceiling panel that had fallen on him and knocked him out. He turned back to the barrels and frowned. There was an explosion, something in those barrels. He had been blown backwards by it and the panel had met him halfway through the room. Fox stood fully up and reached for his blaster, only to groan softly when he realized it was missing from his thigh holster. He glanced around but saw no sign of the heavily customized weapon.

He reached down into his boot and pulled out a small knife, the best thing he had until he found his weapon. The ringing in his ears had faded enough that Fox was able to take in some of the other sounds in the room. There was the automated warning about an explosion and fire suppression system. Fox glanced once more around at the snow and realized it was just the fallout from the fire killing mist that had been sprayed around.

He glanced over his shoulder as another sound reached him. Somebody groaning.

He moved towards the noise, for the first time taking in the pain in his leg. Something was twisted badly, either that or it was broken and he was too full of adrenalin to care. He moved around a piece of wreckage and saw who was making the noise.

Fox shook his head slowly and whispered the name. "Wolf."

Wolf O'Donnell, his opponent from earlier, looked up at him from his spot sitting against the wall. His paw was covering his chest and was slick with red. "Whats the matter...Pup? I thought you would be glad..." Wolf cut off with a loud groan and glanced down at his stomach before leaning his head back and inhaling several times before continuing. "I thought you would be...glad to see me like this."

Fox moved forward, spotting his blaster and picking it up as he got closer to Wolf. "Not like this, nobody deserves this." Just from a quick glance, Fox could tell that there was no help to be had for the lupine.

Wolf coughed and more red dotted his front. "You were always too soft..." Wolf grinned. "That's why I never...gave this to you..."

Fox frowned. "What are you talking about Wolf?"

Wolf reached up with his other paw and reached under his combat vest, he pulled out a small data stick and held it out towards Fox. "My dad gave me...this...told me if I ever wanted...to punish you...to give it...to you..." Wolf coughed again, the strain of talking obvious on him. "Take it."

Fox took the red covered drive gently and Wolf let his paw drop to the ground. "I always told myself...you would earn that...that you were...strong enough to handle it...when you beat me..."

Fox shook his head. "I didn't beat you Wolf, it wasn't me that shot those barrels."

Wolf laughed wetly. "I know...I did...and you survived...where I...I didn't...so you won...congratulations..."

Fox slipped the data drive into his pocket and met Wolf's eyes, they stared unblinking at each other until the light faded from his eyes and Wolf's head dropped to the side. Fox sighed and reached out, sliding a paw over Wolfs face and closing his eyelids. He sighed once more before he removed the paw and stood up, slowly making his way out of the base to where his team was waiting for him.

* * *

Two days later found Fox sitting propped up in the med bay of the _Great Fox_. His leg was wrapped in a cast and he had various bandages all over wounds on his body. His was holding the data stick that he had gotten from Wolf in one hand and was studying it. Some of the red was still clinging to the stick and Fox was reluctant to wipe it off for some reason.

He turned his head to look at the doorway as it slid to the side with a soft sound. He blinked as Krystal came in, dressed in a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt, she looked much more comfortable then he did in what was a poor excuse for a medical gown.

"How are you feeling today Fox?" She asked with a smile as she came in and stood next to his bed.

Fox frowned "Well, if you ignore the fact that: I'm still in a cast and can't move my leg for fear of actually breaking the cracks there. Add in the that most of my body is covered in bandages, that I can't touch in anyway even though most of them itch. _Also_ add in that for the bandages to be put on effectively, they had to _shave_ my fur. I'm doing great."

Krystal laughed at his sour tone. She had essentially volunteered to be his nurse while he was stuck in the med bay and was well used to his complaining after two days. She couldn't blame him, she most likely would have been the same way if she was stuck in a bed while the rest of the team went about their business.

Krystal pointed to the data stick that Fox was holding onto. "What's on that?" she asked.

Fox glanced at the data disk again. "I don't know, Wolf gave it to me before he died. Apparently his father has told him to give it to me if he ever wanted to punish me. But Wolf..." Fox trailed off for a moment. "I guess he wanted to make sure I was strong enough to handle it." Fox glanced at Krystal. "Which meant killing him."

Krystal frowned as she took the stick from Fox, she lifted it before he and turned it around slowly, studying it. "So...Wolf wanted to make sure you could handle what's on this?" She glanced at Fox "What do you think it is?"

Fox shrugged. "Its Wolf, who knows? He's always been a bit unpredictable." Fox sighed and Krystal handed back the data stick.

"Fox..." she started off. "Are you...sad?"

Fox looked at her. "Sad, about wha-" he blinked "Oh, about Wolf." he paused "I guess I am, I never really thought the day would come that Wolf O'Donnell would be no more. He was just one of those permanent things you know? Always there, never going away." he chuckled softly. "I always thought that if I have kids some day-" Krystal blushed as she heard this. "-They would always be in competition with any kids Wolf might have had." Fox sighed again. "With him gone, I just feel like something is going to be missing from my life from now on." he looked up at Krystal "Kinda goofy huh?"

Krystal shook her head softly, her hair moving about her face. "Not at all, You honored Wolf as a fighter, he may have been on the wrong side of things usually, but he always had a righteous core about him. Remember how he acted during the Aparoid war?"

Fox nodded "True." he sighed and glanced down at the data stick again. "Would you stay with me?" Krystal raised an eyebrow at him, so he continued. "While I watch this, just in case, I'm not strong enough."

Krystal reached out and took Foxs paw in her own. "I will."

Fox nodded and reached for the wall where the data port was. The data stick slid right in and Fox could hear the computer in the wall humming softly as it decoded the files and turned the binary into something he could read.

Which is why he was surprised when the display on the wall kicked into life and a video started playing.

Fox couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips.

A vulpine was staring out at him, his left eye was swollen from a black eye and there were several cuts across his snout and face. The one eye that Fox could see was the same crystal green as Foxs. The face carried the same shape and build, although his was older and more rugged.

But it was when James McClouds voice started to sneak out of the speakers that had Fox gasping.

"_Hi Son."_

Fox blinked as those words seemed to step out of his past and dominate his very soul. He longed for years to hear his fathers voice again, and here it was.

James glanced away from the camera he was staring at and Fox saw the brown stone walls behind. When he turned back to the camera James continued. _"I'm not sure how much time I have here, the guards are on random patrols. I have a plan to get out of here, but just in case it goes wrong, I want to try and get something to you. That's what this video is, if you're watching this, I'm dead, and I failed you."_

Another voice sounded out and Fox blinked _"James I'm not leaving with ou-"_

James glanced above the camera_. "Quiet Peppy, I need to do this." _James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. _"Look, first thing is first, if you see this, and Pigma Dengar hasn't been exposed as the treasonous swine that he is, make sure the system knows. We weren't even in the air above Venom for five minutes before Pigma betrayed us to Andross. Secondly, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart, and I'm sorry that I'm not going to be there for your birthday next month. I'm sorry that I won't be coming home. God knows what's in store for you now, I only hope that everything that I have put aside for you, well, I hope it helps you grow up and become a man."_

James glanced behind him again. _"I always had dreams of us running Star Fox together, but now it looks like that burden falls to you. I know you'll do a great job, probably a better job then I did. Peppy knows where my will is at, so I'm not going to waste time with that, but I do want you to know that whatever you do in life, I'm proud of you, whatever you do, whatever you've done by the time you've seen this. No parent could be more proud of child then I am of you right now, in this very instant. You've lost so much, first your mom, and now me, yet through it all, you've remained strong, and I know you'll stay strong."_

Another voice sounded out, the slick tones identifying it as a Venom Lizard._ "Hey! What are you doing over there?!"_

James looked up at Peppy. _"Ready?"_

The camera shook slightly as Peppy nodded and James stood up and walked over to the where a set of bars was keeping him from leaving. _"Me? I'm not doing anything, I can't do anything, I'm too repulsed by you ugly face to be capable of...well anything really."_

"_Why you..."_

Krystal and Fox watched as a Venom lizard walked towards the cell door. _"I'll show you who is the ugly one mammal." _As he reached the cage, James smiled and darted his hands out, grabbing the lizards blaster rifle and twisting it so that it was pointing it towards the ceiling, then he pulled it through the bars, bringing the lizards skull in to meet metal with a dull clanging sound. When the lizard didn't lose his grip after the first hit, James shook his head and pulled him into the bars again, and again, and again. After the sixth time the lizard finally dropped, knocked cold by his prisoner.

James glanced back at Peppy and spoke up. _"Here we go, get ready to run, they're going to come running shortly."_

Again, the camera shook as Peppy nodded. He moved closer to where James was, just in time for James to fully charge the blaster and let loose with a charge that melted half of the iron bar door. As soon as the lock was melted an alarm started screaming through the base. James shouted at Peppy to move as they tore out of the cage they were in and down a tunnel.

Fox couldn't tear his eyes away as he watched his father run through the hallway, occasionally blasting a Venom lizard as they ran into them and shouting at Peppy to 'turn left here', or 'go right there.'

Even though Fox knew it was bound to happen, he was still surprised when Peppy shouted out. _"James! Behind you!" _Fox felt Krystal squeeze his paw gently as the words echoed through the med bay.

Peppys warning came to late though and Fox watched a blaster bolt tear through his fathers shoulder and spin the vulpine around in a circle. He came to a stop holding his weight up against a wall, a blaster still held in his hand. _"Peppy! Go! Run! One of us need to get out of here! Warn Corneria what's coming!"_

Peppy seemed to pause for a moment, the camera moving back one step before James shook his head and shouted. _"GO!"_

Peppy turned and ran, the camera still in his hand. They watched Peppy run for a few minutes before the heard somebody else.

"_Got you!" _

The camera went flying and came to a stop facing the wall as the sounds of a fight sounded out of the speakers. Fox and Krystal listened with baited breath before they heard a deep voice groan and the sounds of footsteps running away. After a minute the groan faded and they heard the same voice from before speak up. _"Yeah...that's right...you better run away...punk, using a cheap move like that." _there was another pause. _"Huh...whats that?"_

The camera was picked up and Fox saw the shadowy outline of a lupine before it cut to black. Before Fox could even start to speak though the screen jumped to life again.

"_Oh, I've got to get this to send to his boy one day."_

Fox and Krystal both gasped as they took in the scene before them. In it, a much younger Andross was walking around a bound James McCloud in what appeared to be some sort of arena. The seats around the stadium were filled with silent lizards that were watching with rapt attention.

"_James McCloud..." _Andross started out. _"you have been convicted of crimes against Venom, the crimes are too numerous to list here, but you have been found guilty, and it has been ruled that you will be given our most severe sentence." _Andross paused in front of James and smiled as he reached behind him. _"Death."_

James glared a the ape in front of him. _"You can do what you want to me Andross, but you'll never take Lylat, not as long as Star Fox is out there." _James grinned wickedly _"and trust me, its out there."_

Andross gave his own grin. _"I know all about your little plans McCloud, and trust me, I'll enjoy killing your son slowly."_

James struggled to his feet. _"Don't you dar-"_

He didn't get out anymore because Andross quickly drew a blaster and fired point blank into James face. Fox gasped out loud and he heard Krystal muffle her gasp with her hand as James fell backwards. Fox reached out and ejected the data stick, closing his eyes as the screen died in front of him. He stayed that way for a few minutes, tears streaming out from under his closed eyelids. He opened his eyes when Krystal slid a hand along his cheek, he glanced at her and realized that she had sat down on the bed next to him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Fox." she started off.

Fox shook his head. "I'm not, I needed to see it, to get closure. Now I know. It doesn't help with the pain of the loss, but it does help me to know that my dad fought until the last second." He sighed and closed his eyes again, leaning back into his pillows as Krystal sat next to him, stroking his arm and face. At some point she got up to leave and Foxs paw flew up to grab her own. "Please don't go...I...I need...I want you here...next to me..."

Krystal smiled sadly at Fox and sat down on the bed again, lifting her legs up when Fox scooted over. "I'm not going anywhere Fox. Never."

Fox sobbed once, softly. "Thank you."

Together, the two of them drifted off to sleep as night claimed the _Great Fox_ for its own.

* * *

_**Yay or Nay? Let me know in a review! Also, don't forget, I'm always looking out for Ideas!**_

_**Right, Guest Reviews!**_

_**JackLinks: I thought about adding that to his tombstone actually, but this was at the end and I didn't want to go and add Marcus in somehow. As for the song, my bad, I didn't think people would care that much, but you're not the only one to ask. Its **_**I Drive your Truck ****_ by _Lee Brice_. _**

_**Blake O'Donnell: I've heard that too. Bonus of working at Gamestop, I usually can keep my ear pretty close to the gaming news and what not. Glad you enjoyed the story, even though it was sad, this one wasn't much better for happy was it? I wish I could tell you the next one is happy, but looking through my list, its not, although the chapter after that, I hope you'll enjoy very much. : P**_

_**Well, that's that for the guest reviews, and I've noticed people seem to be fading in interest for this series. Sorry for that, hopefully one day I can bring you back, until then though, or until I run out of ideas, I'll keep this going!**_

_**For now though, I've got to get back to Dead Planet, I've got a nice drive to work on it, and if this keeps up, readers of the Dead Planet will get another update next Tuesday. Also, thanks to those who have voted on my poll so far, I've got some surprising results so far, I thought there would be more love for ReArmed Conflict ha ha. Anyway, poll runs until next Saturday August third, so get those votes in!**_

_**I think that should be everything, so, until next time...**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	9. Teardrop Destiny

_**Hey-O! I'll be blunt, I wanted to update The Dead Planet today, but I'm just not sure how I feel about what I've written so far, Final type things always make me nervous. So, I'll be gunning for its standard update again next week. In the meantime, I was sitting in my room, watching Netflix on my Vita when it clicked over to midnight and I realized that I have to write something, and upload it for you all today. **_

_**Why?**_

_**Because, as of Four hours ago, I just turned Twenty-Three, and it has always been my little tradition to share some of my good feelings today with you my readers by updating something. So, since I don;t have Dead Planet ready to go yet, my bad, I figured I would give you a Destinies update instead!**_

_**Enjoy the Teardrop Destiny!**_

* * *

_-Chapter 9: _**Teardrop Destiny-  
**_**-**__Inspired by: _**Country Song: Sparks Fly-Taylor Swift**_-_

* * *

Krystal was running, she wasn't sure how long she had been running, she just knew that she couldn't spend one more minute in that base. She could have sworn that her apartment wasn't far from the base, but it felt like she had been running for hours. Her legs hurt, her chest was tight, and her head was pounding. She was breathing hard, but it wasn't just from her running. She came to a stop on a corner street and leaned up against a street lamp, her chest heaving as she tried to recover her breath.

_Damn him._

Krystal wiped her arm across her eyes, trying to clear her blurring vision. But the tears just kept coming. She sighed, and shouldered her bag before she continued on her way, her eyes still blurring as she finally reached the block her apartment was on. She made her way slowly up the stairs, digging into her pockets for her keys. She pulled them out with a shaky hand and reached for her door. She had just turned the knob when the door to her left opened.

_Damn_

Krystal sighed as he neighbor stepped out her apartment. Katt Monroe looked up at Krystal as she locked her door. "Hey Kryst-" Katt cut off as she noticed Krystal's red eyes. She paused for a moment and blinked at Krystal before she put a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes. "Alright, who do I need to kill?" she asked, her face scrunched up in anger with her tail twitching behind her.

Krystal sniffed and wiped her face again. "Its-It's nothing Katt...I'm fine." Krystal gave a halfhearted smile to her friend and neighbor. "Really...I'm fine..."

_No I'm not, I'll never be fine again._

Katt shook her head. "Don't try and bull me Krystal. I know that look. Just tell me now, because if you don't tell me now. I'll just hound Falco later." Katt winked. "He'll cave really quick too, so you might as well just get it over with."

Krystal shook her head. "Katt...Just...Just leave it alone." With that Krystal pushed her way into the apartment and slammed the door shut, leaving Katt blinking in confusion. Krystal took a moment to breath before she moved into her room and sat down on her bed, dropping her bag next to her feet as the tears ran unchecked again. Her mind drifted back to the conversation she had just had with _him_, and how it had all gone so wrong.

* * *

"Hey Krystal."

Krystal stopped where she was in the hallway and turned around to face the caller. "Yes Fox?" she had known that he was there, she had felt the torment in his mind, same as it had been there for the past few months, and she had thought about asking him about it, but Fox had never been open with his emotions, so she didn't want to pry. Although from the way Fox was walking towards her she had a feeling she was about to find out what was up.

His face was tight, as if he was trying not to show any emotion, but his tail was drooping behind him. Whatever they were going to talk about, he wasn't looking forward to it.

Fox came to a stop in front of her and Krystal ran her eyes over him. Even locked up as he was, she still found him cute and couldn't help herself. He was dressed in his standard for the base, jeans and t-shirt, today's was green, and his flight vest pulled over the top of it. She felt a little unmatched considering she had just gotten done using the training room, and was dressed in her combat armor.

"Look, about that conversation we had last week..." Fox trailed off and Krystal shook her head. If that what was worrying him, she didn't care about it. She decided to nip that in the bud right there.

"Fox, stop, I don't care about that anymore. Was I happy when you told me that you wouldn't be using me on any more ground missions? No. I've gotten over it though, and I don't care, as long as I still get to fly on missions with you."

Krystal waited with a small smile for him to speak up, to be relieved at her words, but instead his mind grew even more tormented, and he broke eye contact to stare at the floor in front of him. She blinked a few times, the silence stretching on and her smile starting to fade. "Fox?" she asked quietly.

Fox sighed and glanced away, staring at the wall. "You can't." he said softly.

Krystal frowned. "Can't...what?"

Fox closed his eyes and turned away from her fully, his face losing some of its rigidness to reveal the sadness underneath. "You can't fly missions with us anymore, I'm grounding you."

Krystal blinked again. The silence between them could have been shattered by a pin dropping. Instead it was her soft voice, "Why?"

For a moment she thought Fox wouldn't, he opened his mouth then closed it and sighed before he opened it again. "I don't think you can handle it."

Krystal felt her eyes widen as she read the real reason in his mind, almost buried under his swirling thoughts. "Bull crap Fox. You know it too, you damn well know that I can handle myself. This is because you're afraid of losing me in a battle or something."

Fox looked at her then, he tried to speak but she continued before he could. "Fox, I love you, I won';t bother denying it, and I know you feel the same way, so why? Why do you think this will work? I know that you'll think I'll die, and that you're afraid of loosing me...but..." Krystal glanced down at her hand, flexing it a few times. "This is who I am now, if you try to take this from me. I...I'll leave."

Now it was Fox's eyes that widened in shock. "You don't mean that." he said quietly

Krystal stared at him with hard eyes. "You can't read my mind, so I'll tell you. I mean that, and I will do it."

Fox was quiet for a full minute before he closed his eyes and looked away. "Then go."

Krystal actually took a step back. "What?"

Fox shook his head as he turned around. "Get out of here, you're off the team, clear out your room and locker and leave." he started walking "I won't have a team mate that won't listen to orders here."

As he got further down the hallway, Krystal growled low in her throat. "That's a sorry excuse Fox, come back here and face me!" Fox kept walking, and Krystal felt the tears grow in her eyes. "Fine! I don't need Star Fox anyway!" she turned around and stormed down the hallway, her vision blurring. She only stopped to grab a bag and shed her combat armor in the locker room and grab her gear, she didn't care about anything in the small room in the base right then. Most of it she had gotten from him, and he could burn it for all she cared. In just a few minutes, she had it all shoved into the bag and was leaving the base, running as fast as she could towards her apartment. For the first time glad that she had saved up to buy one herself.

* * *

Krystal blinked as the loud crack of thunder shocked her out of her memories. She glanced at the glowing read out on the clock on her nightstand.

_2118_

She blinked again as a bolt of lightning flashed in her window before being followed by another crack of thunder. She laid down on her bed, still dressed in her day clothes, she drew her legs up to her chest and drew in a shaky breath. The anger had long since faded by now, and all that was left was the deep aching sadness, it seemed to reach down to her very soul, claiming her entire being with its chill.

She glanced at the clock again and closed her eyes.

When she opened them it was to the sound of something tapping on her window. She sat up and looked at the clock, seeing that she had only been asleep for fifteen minutes. She walked over to her window and looked out it just in time for another pebble to strike the pane of glass in front of her. Krystal reared back in shock. She glanced around before grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair and heading for her apartment door. She quickly unlocked the door and stepped out into the pouring rain, it fell from the sky in sheets, drenching everything in a matter of moments.

Krystal didn't care though as she ran down the stairs and looked out at the sidewalk.

Fox was standing there, dressed in a large tench coat, getting ready to throw another pebble when he locked eyes with her. She took a few slow steps forward, not really sure if it was him or her mind playing tricks on her.

"Krystal?" he asked, his voice muffled by the pounding rain.

Krystal stepped out from under the awning to her apartment, feeling her fur get instantly soaked as she walked towards Fox slowly. He waited for her to get close before he held out a paw. She looked at it for a moment before she put her own paw inside his. He pulled her forward and their muzzles met, Krystal closed her eyes as the warmth and bliss of the feeling banished the chill that she had felt earlier, and acting as a barrier to the falling water right now.

Right then. Right there. It was all gone, all the pain and rage she felt, all the doubts she had, it was all swept away in the joy of that first kiss. She opened her eyes and locked her gaze on those emerald green eyes of his as the rain continued to fall. He smiled at her and she could have sworn that his eyes seemed to light up as she grinned at him.

"Krystal..." he started off.

She put a finger on his lips. "Shh...I know."

He shook his head. "I know you know, but I still need to say it. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I said. I hate myself for it, and I can't stand the thought of you not being around. Please, forgive me."

Krystal laughed quietly as she wiped at the tears that only she could feel. "I already have Fox."

Fox laughed with her, before glancing around. "We're getting soaked." he said quietly.

She nuzzled her face in his neck. "I don't care...but...we could always go into my apartment."

Fox kissed her ear before he whispered. "I'm okay with that."

The two of them walked through the rain, their hands locked as Krystal led the way up the stairs to her apartment. She led him through her still open door, backing into the apartment, their eyes locked on each other. Fox closed and locked the door behind him, pulling her to a stop, and closer to him as he whispered. "We're going to drip water everywhere."

Krystal just shook her head. "I don't care, come on..." she dragged him through the small hallway into her bathroom, flicking the light on as she turned around. She started the shower running, hot as it would go, before she turned around and pulled Fox's coat off his shoulders before shrugging her own jacket off. She pulled her shirt up over her head and glanced at Fox who was doing the same thing. Their eyes locked again and Krystal moved forward, steam from the shower behind her trailing her. She reached up and ran her hand through the small ruff of hair he had on his head and she could have sworn his eyes glowed in the dim light of her bathroom.

He put a hand on her wrist. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked softly.

Krystal just grinned and pushed in closer, grabbing his wrist with her other hand. "Fox, get in the shower."

Fox shook his head before he undid his belt buckle and dropped his pants, Krystal doing the same thing a few moments later. They discarded the last of the clothes and both stepped into the shower, the hot water running through the fur and sluicing it clean of the rain water. They took their time, making sure each other was washed thoroughly before they stepped out and dried off, their eyes never leaving each other.

They exited the bathroom and made their way into Krystal room, dropping down on the bed in each others arms. Krystal couldn't help the grin on her face as she ran her fingers through his head fur again, watching his eyes light up with joy before they kissed again. As Krystal melted into bliss she heard the loud cracking of thunder outside and she opened her eyes to find herself staring at the clock in front of her again.

_2143_

She sighed as she sat up, hoping that Fox would still be on her bed when she looked over her shoulder. But all that was there was her big body length pillow, which she had been hugging in her sleep at some point.

Krystal dropped her head in sadness, the whole thing had been a dream, and she was still off the team, and it was all because Fox had felt the need to protect her.

She felt her shoulders shaking as sobs racked her body again. She cried for another ten minutes before she looked up at the window. She walked over to it and stared out into the darkness, hoping that she would see Fox out on the sidewalk. She waited another few minutes before she punched the wall in anger.

The cold chill had settled over her soul by now, and she felt a icy fury build up inside her.

_He _didn't think she was good enough to handle herself on the field?! She would show him! she would show him just how wrong he was, and then when he would beg for her back, she would turn her back on him and let him know how it feels.

She stared out into the night for a few moments, trying to think about what she would do. Lighting struck right as it hit her.

Bounty Hunting.

She would become a bounty hunter, and she would be the best there was. She turned back to her bed, grabbing the bag off the floor and dumping its contents out on the bed spread. She ran a sharp eye over the mess, deciding what she would need. She started packing her bag, this time with a new set of goals in her mind. Eventually she reached for her staff and held it extended in her hands for a moment before she tucked it into the bag as well.

She grabbed her jacket and bag, and was about to leave the room when she realized that Krystal just wasn't that good of a name for a bounty hunter. She stopped and stood next to her bed and thought for a moment, She grinned as she realized she had the perfect name for herself. It summed up how her targets would feel, and how she felt about her life. People would come to fear the name Kursed, and she knew where she was going to start. She shut off the light in her room and made her way to her door.

Outside, Fox watched the light shut off and he dropped the pebble he held in his hand before he tucked his hands into his trench coat and walked away into the night and rain, heading back to the base. The knowledge that life was never going to be the same because he didn't have the courage to face her with the truth.

* * *

_**And there we go! You all know the drill, leave me some feedback and let me know how I'm doing! Speaking of, here comes the Guest reviews!**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Yes, sometimes sad moments happen, like I said, there was going to be another one before we get into things that could be a bit happier, but we'll see how life goes. **_

_**JackLinks: Yeah, I wanted Fox to be the one who shot the barrels, but I just realized that somehow, Wolf fit better, just that one misplaced shot and bam, its over. As for the fanbase, not so much that it's dying, just that people have stopped enjoying enough to leave a review. But yes, otherwise, I'll keep this going until I run out of ideas, and even then, I'll start a new extended version of some of the stories after that. It'll be in its own thing though if I do it though because most of the details I want to add to a lot of the stories, like the one above, would make it seriously M.**_

_**Anyway! Review! Ha ha. So, Just a random little blurb for you all. I only have one friend in the area right now, while the rest of them are out and about, so, since I don;t have any huge plans right now, I plan on playing me some Gears of War 3 Hoard, if any of you want to hit me up, feel free. But like I said, that's my plan, if something else goes down, plans might change. Otherwise, I'll be on most of the day until I head into town for some dinner and Pacific Rim!**_

_**Otherwise, I'll be busy with work this week, plus there are two games coming out that I have pre-ordered, but I stll hope to get Dead Planet updated!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	10. Cursed Destiny

_**So, I will be upfront with you, I have not felt like writing at all this week. My entire life has been dominated by a game called Tales of Xillia, and let me just say this, if you have a PS3, and like JRPG's, and for some reason are not playing this game...There are no words to describe the massive failure that defines you. Best JRPG I've played in recent years.**_

_**Anyway, I still wanted to give you guys an update, and I was digging through my hard drive a few nights ago, and I found this. It was something I wrote after I had finished reading Kit-Karamaks The Curse story. This idea sprang up in my mind, and wouldn't go away, I typed it up and showed it to Kit, and he never got back to me about it ha ha. Or at least, I don't think he ever did. Anyway, I figured I would post it for you all to read, I went through and touched up a few bits, because this is an old story, in fact, this technically would be my first Star Fox fanfic. I wrote it before I ever had the ideas for The ReArmed Conflict pop into my head.**_

_**So, two quick notes: If you don't like Vampires, you can skip this story, because its themed around Vampires, proper ones mind you, but still, the undead and mystic stuff is heavy here.**_

_**Also second, Apologies to Blake, this update was originally going to be an idea you suggested, but like I mentioned, I just haven't been able to write much this past week. Hopefully next update.**_

_**Anyway, enough rambling, I leave you to the Cursed Destiny.**_

* * *

-Chapter 10: **The Cursed**** Destiny**-  
_-Inspired By: _**A fanfic of a fanfic, inspired by Kit-Karamak's story, The Curse.**_-_

* * *

_Almost one century after Andross's defeat at the hands of Fox and Fara McCloud..._

The Cardinal Sins nightclub was the most popular nightclub in town, it could be found without a doubt, every night, full of dancing people, it was also a place to go for...other things...If the person so wanted, but unknown to the many people who flocked there, that the club was actually run by the cursed members of the McCloud family line.

'Jamie' McCloud sat at the desk in the office of the pounding nightclub below. It had just struck midnight and the party crowd below was in full swing. The thumping music pounded up through the floor and yet, Jamie didn't move, even though he usually was down on the floor at this time of night. But tonight, tonight was different.

His ears twitched and he turned his head towards the shadows of the room. He watched as a shadowy figure stepped forth and the darkness slid away for reveal the form of his Grandfather. Jamie turned back to the desk as James McCloud approached him.

"Hey Grandpa." Jamie said as he went back to staring at the desk, and to the picture that sat off to the side.

James shook his head, "I still don't know how you're able to sense me coming from the shadows, your the only one that can do it." James said as he sat down in a chair across from his grandson.

Jamie grinned, but James could tell that his heart wasn't in it. They sat in silence for a moment before James cleared his throat. "You're usually down on the dance floor, being a good host about now. I was surprise when I looked in down there and didn't see you." He paused for a moment. "I could also see it in your face just a moment ago, something is wrong, what is it?"

Jamie reached forward and tilted the picture he was staring at so that James could see it.

The picture was from almost sixty years ago, in it, a proud Jamie and Kimberly stood with their arms around each others shoulders in a bright sunny day in the park near the academy. Standing next to Jamie was his wife, Rebecca. She was leaning her head on his shoulder and smiling at the camera with Jamie. Rebecca was a Fennec like his mother was, Rebecca's fur was a light brown and she had chosen to grow out her head fur into a long red pony tail that could easily reach her knees if it wasn't bundle at the base of her neck first. Kneeling in front of Jamie was his son and daughter, Jeremy and Maria, both spitting images of their father, and in each of their laps they held a small child, Jeremy held Marcus who was only two years into the world and Maria held Fara, who was going on four. Both of his children had given him grandchildren and Jamie couldn't have been prouder of them then at the moment.

Standing slightly behind Kimberly was a onyx colored wolf and panther hybrid. He was dressed in a Corneria flight suit with the name Carson etched into a name plate. Next to him was Kimberly's husband who had an arm wrapped around her neck and was in the process of giving her a kiss when the photo was taken. Bill Jr, or Bj as everybody had come to call him had given Kimberly the best years of her life along with her child who sat in front of her mother. Jessica had yet to give Kimberly a grandchild at the time of the picture, she had eventually delivered a hybrid that much to his uncles eternal amusement had been named Wolf.

James took the picture of the desk and studied the smiling faces "Wow, you've keep this all these years?" He asked as he put the picture back on the desk.

Jamie nodded and picked up the picture himself. "This was the last happy time that I had before, well everything." He paused and gestured to himself "and this."

James took off his sunglasses, "You're not..." James trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.

Jamie shook his head slowly "Nothing that serious, its just, today is the day."

James nodded "Ah, of course, how stupid of me to forget." He stood up and walked around behind Jamie, putting a paw on his shoulder. "How long ago was it now?"

Jamie felt a tear make itself known in his left eye. "Twenty-Five years." he said softly.

James patted his grandsons shoulder "Ah, I know that was a hard night for you, both what happened and what you found out."

Jamie nodded "Yea, there was some good things obviously, I got to have more time with my parents and meet my grandfather and grandmother. It's just...well, I wonder sometimes why I agreed to all of this? I mean Kim sure didn't want it."

James nodded "Yes, and we respected her wishes, but you asked for this, and you knew what you were getting into."

Jamie sighed "Yea..." he said softly as his mind rewound twenty-five years.

* * *

He was pacing a hospital corridor on base. His face tight with worry and his breath coming rapidly, his heart hammering away, hoping for good news. Back when he was alive.

The door hissed open as he passed it and Jamie almost ran into the doctor who came out with a clipboard. As they almost collide Jamie threw himself back against the wall and spent several seconds recovering his balance as the Doctor stepped away and the door closed behind him.

As he recovered Jamie stood still in front of the doctor. "Please tell me you have good news." He almost pleaded.

The doctor paused for a moment, opened his mouth, then closed it with a slow shake of his head. "I'm sorry, I wish I had good news, I really do, but we've never seen this before, and we have no cure." The Doctor paused and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder "I hate to say this, but you should go be with her, she doesn't have much time left."

Jamie swallowed the lump in his throat "Ho...How much?" he asked softly, fighting back tears.

The Doctor waited a moment again. "Hours...three if she lucky...within the hour is shes not."

Jamie closed his eyes as tears seeped out from underneath his eyelids, washing into his fur. The Doctor took his hand off of Jamie's shoulder "I'm sorry son, there's nothing we can do at this point except make her comfortable."

Jamie nodded "I know Doctor, I think we need some alone time."

The Doctor nodded and Jamie turned to face the others who had been watching the entire time. "Come on, lets go." He said as he turned towards the door. Bj, Rebecca, Jeremy, Maria, and Jessica all stood up and followed him into the room.

Inside the small room, there was a hospital bed sitting next to the window. Laying in the hospital bed, her frame frail and weak, and hooked up to the various machines around her, laid Kimberly Grey. They still had no idea where the virus had come from, if it was natural or made, but all anybody in the room knew, was that it was about to claim the life of the woman in the bed.

As the door slid shut behind the group, Kimberly turned her head slightly and in a hoarse voice whispered "Ah, you're all here. Great." They moved to come forward. But before they made it Kimberly coughed and raised a weak paw. "Please, for now, can I talk to Jamie alone."

Jamie glanced behind him at the group and nodded. Bj frowned, but they all slowly made their way back to the door and out into the hall. As it slid shut, Jamie turned back to his sister and moved forward, pulling up a stool and sitting down. He reached out and grabbed her hand, putting on a fake smile as he did so. He inhaled then spoke up "Guess what Sis, they found a cure, you'll be fine in a few hours."

Kimberly let a weak smile come across her face. "Bull" she said with a soft laugh that broke down into coughing. Jamie reached forward and helped her sit up a little straighter as she covered her muzzle. Eventually the fit subsided and Jamie helped her ease back into the bed. Kimberly continued her whispered talking after she recovered her breath "I know I'm dying Jamie, and I'm okay with that." She opened the paw that she had used to cover her muzzle with and showed him the blood that coated the inside of it. "There's no use trying to play it off as anything else."

Jamie's face fell. "I wish there was something I could do for you. I really do."

Kim smiled up at him from the bed "I know, but I actually need to tell you something, right now, before it's too late."

Jamie gave his sister a confused glance "What's up?"

Kim tilted her head as if looking around to make sure that nobody could hear her. She turned her gaze, "Come closer." Jamie leaned down over limp form, and when she spoke, her voice was a bare whisper. "Mom and Dad are alive."

Jamie pulled back and looked at her, he waited for a moment, then put a sad smile on his face "You're confused, the virus must be messing with your mind, mom-"

Kimberly glared at him, cutting him off "Don't treat me like that, I'm dying, not senile. Mom's alive, so is Dad." she paused and coughed once. "Well, sorta of, I was sworn to secrecy, but I thought you had overheard my conversation with her. Back when we were captured by Venom as kids."

Jamie shook his head "No, or if I did I don't remember. Wait, you had a conversation with mom, but she..." Jamie paused and stared at his sister "Start again."

Kimberly huffed through her nose and Jamie leaned over her again. "I'm not crazy Jamie, they are alive. Their 'monsters' as mom put, they will live forever, as long as the keep sucking blood. Vampires are real Jamie, and our entire family line belong to their ranks."

Jamie leaned back from his sister, staring at her in confusion. She started whispering and he leaned in to hear her again. "Look, I swore to mom that I wouldn't tell anybody, but, well, I wont be here much longer, I felt you had to know, if you believe me, great, if not, oh well. But there is one thing Jamie, you can not tell anybody about this. It would just get Mom and Dad in trouble and you would just conveniently lose your memory one night."

Jamie gazed into his sisters eyes, seeing the truth in them. He glanced out towards the window and blinked at a shadow before turning back to his sister. Doubt no longer present in his mind, instead, what she had just told him rang of the truth. He gulped "They can do that?" he asked softly.

She nodded "Yea, just, think about it."

Jamie nodded "I will, should I bring everybody else back in?"

She sighed and nodded, shortly after another coughing fit claimed her.

Two hours later the doctor and nurse stopped the CPR and the nurse turned to the Ekg machine switching its wailing alarm off. The doctor glanced at his watch "Time of death is 0245." He turned to Jaime who was standing with tear stained fur behind the sobbing form of Bj. "I'm sorry." he told Jamie. Jamie nodded slowly "Thank you, if you don't mind..." he gestured towards the door

The doctor nodded "Of course."

Jamie felt his heart wrench as the door closed and he heard Bj sobbing softly under his breath. "No...No...Come back...Come back Sweet Heart...come back...Wolf needs you...I need you...Please..."

Jamie patted the sobbing hound on the shoulder a few times as he continued to cry over his wife's covered body. Jamie wiped his own eyes clear and left the room, he needed to get away. He needed to think.

Outside sitting in the shadows on a ledge just below the hospitals window and unknown to all of its occupants, a fox raised a com link to his mouth. "He knows."

Over the next year things didn't go any better for Jamie, his wife died in a car accident and his grandchildren had moved away, or rather he had, he had vanished off the radar. He was all alone and he hated every moment. He drank himself to sleep almost every night and he hardly went outside anymore. It was all too much, the feelings were piling up and Jamie just didn't know what to do anymore.

That's why, one night, he found himself in his old house, sitting in his dads office, drinking from a fine bottle of brandy and toying with the old fashioned revolver in his hands. The revolver sat in his right and he played with one bullet in his left. Part of him actively resisted this option, but he felt as if he had no other choice, he didn't want to turn to his children for help, and honestly he was sick of this world anyway.

With every shot of the brandy that he took, he found himself closer to loading that bullet. By the time the bottle was half empty, the bullet sat in a chamber and Jamie constantly spun the cylinder around, watching that one bullet spin. He was transfixed, it kept his hands busy while his mind flashed back to that hospital room and what his sister had told him.

The part of him that told him to hold on to this life, denied it, it couldn't be real, vampires, as if. But the part that was encouraging the drink and the gun in his hand to both be in his mouth, it hoped, no, it strained for it to be true.

He wanted to see his parents again.

When the bottle reached its forth way mark and Jamie was good and buzzed, the room spun and he had trouble keeping his vision in focus. He snapped the cylinder into the gun with a thunk and pulled back on the hammer. Its heavy click echoing about the room. Tears were running freely from his eyes at this point and he turned the heavy gun around, sliding it into his muzzle. His finger twitched on the trigger and his thoughts changed to how he was going to kill himself at age fifty-five, if only the world could see the 'famous' son of Fox McCloud now.

Jamie closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, the gun flashed and Jamie felt the heat along the side of his muzzle. The bullet grazed his ear and placed itself into the wall behind him. At this point he realized that there was a pressure on his hands and that he was no longer alone. When he realized this, the despair and the alcohol took their toll and his mind tumbled into darkness.

When he came to almost an hour later, he blinked his groggy eyes and leaned his head off the side, puking into the trashcan that was moved there. As he emptied his stomach and his head pounded, his eyes focused and he saw the two paws that were holding the trashcan still.

Then he heard it a female voice, "Just like when he got sick, only you know, he's bigger now."

Jamie heard the dry chuckle of a male, "Yea, I could have used your help on a few other nights."

A soft laughed answered before the female voice spoke up "Well, he's awake, think he can connect two dots together yet?"

The males voice spoke up again "Well, you pulled most of the alcohol from his system, hopefully he'll be recovered soon."

Jamie placed the voice after a few moments. "Dad...?" he whispered into the bedding.

"Well that answers that." Fox McCloud knelt down into his sons view and gave him a smile. "Hey."

Jamie blinked "Am I...?"

Fara McCloud crouched down behind Fox "Nope, we got to the house just in time to stop that nonsense thank you. I would rather not have my child go out in such a way."

Jamie blinked and swallowed hard against his the lump in his throat. "It's all true..." He whispered, his drunken mind far beyond the point of surprise.

He dad nodded "Yep, care to tell me what you were thinking?"

Jamie blinked and sat up from his position on the bed. His head swam for a moment but he waited for it to pass then turned his gaze to his parents. "I don't...I'm not sure, I just didn't want to be around anymore. After Kim, and then Becca, I just..." He blinked and tears started to cloud his vision. He cursed softly and rubbed his eyes. His parents exchanged a glance and Fox reached over and put a hand on his sons shoulder.

Jamie shrugged it off "Why did you leave us?" he demanded, still not looking at them.

Fox glanced at Fara, who spoke up. "Jamie, we never wanted to, I was murdered, and so was your father, neither of us chose this path. I was saved by your aunt and I saved your dad. At least that's what I like to think, but in truth, we were both selfish and didn't want to let the other die."

Jamie wiped his eyes "Maybe it would have been better if you had." He regretted the words as soon as he said them. He turned his gaze to his parents, who looked crest fallen. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

Fara smiled sadly at him "I know...Jamie, are you really so sick of this life that you would kill yourself?"

Jamie thought about it a moment before he gave a sad nod. "Part of me hoped to see you guys again."

Fox cleared his throat "Well, just so you know, blowing your brains out would have prevented us from saving you." Jamie stared at his dad who shrugged "Hey its the truth."

Jamie turned his gaze to his mom "I don't want to live anymore, I want to be with you guys."

Fox and Fara shot each other a look. Fara turned back to her son. "Jamie, you realize what you're saying right? You would have to die to be with us, and you could never talk to anybody you know again."

Jamie nodded "I know, but I was already doing that. Please..."

Fara and Fox glanced at each other again. Fox turned his gaze back to his son and spoke up "Look, Jamie, we understand, we really do do, but please, take a few days to think this over. There _is no_ going back."

Jamie stared at them "I've already made up my mind, but I'll wait if you want me too."

Fox sighed "Alright, tomorrow then."

Jamie felt his heart lift for the first time in the last year, even if it was only slightly. "Thanks."

* * *

Jamie was snapped back to the present as his James sat down in the chair across from him again. "Done going down memory lane?" he asked

Jamie nodded "Yea."

James nodded once to himself "Good, remember, you parents left you, and me, to a lesser extent in charge of this club while Nichole, Wolf, and them went off to the other planets to talk about joining us. We really should put in an appearance down below."

Jamie leaned forward and slapped the picture face down onto the desk. "Yea, your right." He said with a sigh as he stood up. He left the office and James watched him go with a sad smile. He picked up the picture and righted it, placing it back on its original place on the desk. "Don't worry" he told the people in the picture "We'll make him better." He glanced at the closed door that Jamie went through "I promise."

* * *

_**Bit longer then my usual fare for updates here I think, but it wasn't originally written for Destinies. Anyway! Guests reviews!**_

_**Black O'Donnell: Thank you! I also hate those types of stories, not to mention those aren't even supposed to be allowed on this site. I've seen a few where they had the lyrics in the story for you to see there as background of sorts, just so you knew the lines that the characters were reacting to, but still, not a big fan of them. Anyway, again, sorry for not having the proper update for you sir, hopefully I can bring you idea to life next time! Also, while it hasn't really inspired any ideas, I have been listening to Owl City.**_

_**JackLinks: Thanks and ha at the timing, happy late birthday to your sister! Also, the name of the author got auto deleted in your review, so I have no idea who you're talking about. And damn those Typos, damn them all.**_

_**So, this story just broke 3,000 hits ten minutes ago, no joke, so yay that. Now if only people actually REVIEWED when they read it, hint hint : P**_

_**Anyway, I'm off, sleep, work, Tales of Xillia, fixing Dead Planet, more Tales of Xillia...**_

_**Yeah...I've got an awesome few weeks ahead of me.**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	11. Assault Destiny

_**I doubt that this was what Blake was after, but this was what came from his suggestion, not a whole lot to say, so, I'll leave you to enjoy the Assault Destiny.**_

* * *

_-Chapter 11: _**Assault Destiny-  
**_**-**__Inspired by: _**Blake O'Donnell: Expanding on the Assault ending**_-_

* * *

Fox McCloud stared at his heads up display, his mind in shock. This couldn't be right, this couldn't be home. He double checked his location on his radar, but there was no denying it.

He gulped and set his Arwing down slowly, the dust and ash kicking up around his craft as he brought it lower over the devastation. He felt the Arwing bounce gently as its landing struts met land, only to sink a moment later in the gray covering. He shut down the engine and watched as the storm of ash settled down. He reached underneath his seat and pulled out a breath mask, pulling the bands back over his head before snapping the mask over his muzzle. With a bit of hesitation, he reached out and pushed the button that opened his canopy.

As the air seals on his canopy broke the sounds flooded in. The sirens cut through the air, and he could hear fires raging in the distance, their roar only slightly muffled. Every now and then he heard somebody calling for help, and occasionally the soft sobbing of someone who had lost their loved ones. Fox slowly stood up in his cockpit, putting a foot on the edge as he pulled out his binoculars and stared out into the distance.

All around him, the ruins of buildings stretched towards their previous heights, belching smoke and fire into the air. As he panned his view across the city scape, he watched just in time to see one of the more destroyed buildings collapse, a billowing cloud of dust shooting out around it carried on the gusts of collapsed wind. His ear twitched as he heard distant people screaming in fear of the collapse. Fox lowed the binoculars and sighed as he closed his eyes. He stepped up over his canopy and dropped to the ground. Dropping a hand to the ground to steady him as he sank into the half of foot of ash that covered most of the planet.

His boot prints left a trail as he walked towards the remains of the building in front of him. He stared up at the giant girders that stretched up into the sky, like the bones of the destroyed building reaching for one last breath. He walked through the dust, until he reached the center of the devastation, a crater dominating the ground in front of him. He stared out into the carter, and lost himself in thought, none of it pretty. He wasn't sure how long it was before he dropped to his knees, his voice muffled by the mask. "But...we won..."

* * *

-Eight Hours ago-

* * *

Fox grunted as the planet exploded into shards behind him, the shock waves reaching out to bat their ships around like flies. He struggled with the controls for a moment to bring his ship back under control as the some of the debris raced passed their ships and into space. As the debris of the Aparoid home world vanished from his view into the blackness of space he heard Falco's voice pop out of his radio, a picture of his head appearing on his heads up display.

"We did it Fox." his voice was alive with excitement and adrenalin from rushing out of the exploding planet, racing the wall of fire behind them.

"Whew! I cant believe it! I'm still breathing!" Slippy's voice was next, the surprise in his tone evident to all of those that were listening in.

"But..." Krystal's voice was next, and her was laid heavy with sadness, she continued on and Fox couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh. "So many Casualties... Peppy... Wolf's Team... So many noble sacrifices..." She trailed off and Fox thought he heard a quite sob as he channel closed.

Before he could open up another one and ask her it she was alright, Slippy screamed out in shock, startling Fox who glanced over his shoulder at the Arwing behind to his left. "Slippy! What is it?" He asked, worried that somehow some of the Aparoids survived and were coming after them.

A moment later though, Krystal's voice spoke up again. "What's that?" She was hopeful and confused at the same time.

Fox grinned softly to himself as Falco picked up where she left off. "Hey... Could that be...? No... It couldn't..." It was plain that Falco wasn't believing what his eyes were telling him, and what Fox already somehow knew.

He couldn't see his face, but when Peppy's voice drifted out his radio, Fox felt the corner of his mouth tick up further into a grin. "Hey, You're all OK! Hoo, That was hairy. I promise. I'm really gonna retire after this!"

"It's Peppy! Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Slippy was ecstatic, laughing, and doing loops around the _Great Fox's _escape pod as ROB and Peppy brought it closer to the Arwings.

Fox watched as the ship pulled up even with the Arwings, he reached out and keyed his radio. "What's up...Peppy?"

His calm tone had Falco speaking up before Peppy could. "Fox, uh, tell me it ain't so, buddy... You knew about this?"

"So that's why you were so calm, you sneaky dog!" Slippy's accusing voice was still happy as he scolded his leader.

"Pepper is alright as well?" Krystal's hopeful voice returned to grace his ears.

Fox felt his grin grow wider "Yeah...it's possible. And Wolf's team." he paused for a breath. "Everyone." He listened as they all spoke up, Peppy even asking him what was next. "My Friends, Thank you." he reached out for his flight sticks. "Let's go, we need to meet up with the remains of the Cornerian fleet if we want to get back home anytime soon."

Peppy cut into the audio channel. "Sounds like a plan Fox, I'll have ROB send the meet up point to your computers."

Fox glanced down at his computer to see his radar update with a new goal, and he adjusted his pathway until he was lined up with the blinking dot. He glanced outside his cockpit at Krystal, who he could see staring at her own screen as she brought her craft around to match his direction. He smiled to himself as he watched her through the small space in between them as Slippy and Falco adjusted courses with Peppy. She looked up suddenly and locked eyes with him. Her voice coming out of his radio a few seconds later. "Yes Fox?" the glowing bar around her hud icon telling him that she was on a private channel.

He shook his head as he brought his gaze back around to the front. "It's nothing." He swapped back to the squads open channel and spoke up. "Krystal and I are going to go on ahead to make sure that the Cornerian army made it through the battle alive. Slippy, Falco, you stay back with Peppy and make sure nothing happens. We've already had one close call today with him, lets not go for two."

Slippy laughed as Peppy tried to defend himself. Fox meanwhile was already increasing his thrust leading Krystal further ahead of the group, and eventually far enough away that they lost contact with them completely. The flew in silence for a few minutes before Krystal spoke up suddenly. "Fox, can I ask you something?"

Fox glanced out into space where Krystal was flying next to him. "You can ask me anything Krystal, anytime." he smiled softly as he stared at her and she returned the gesture.

"Okay...Have you ever though about the future, what's ahead for us?"

Fox nodded "Sure, first we got to see if we can get the _Great Fox _replaced, then after that make sure the Arwings are up for a lot of flight time, that way we can help out the government-"

Krystal interrupted him with a laugh. "Not _Star Fox,_ us Fox, _You and me, _us"

Fox went silent as his mind ground to a stop. "I uh... Well... I mean... I've thought... We've been busy... Uh... Then what Tricky said..."

He continued on like this for a few minutes and Krystal laughed again. "It's okay if you don't have anything figured out yet Fox. I'm not forcing you to make a decision right now, just, you know, think about it, alright?"

Fox nodded sharply "Yeah, of course, I will. I promise." he trailed off for a moment. "Hey Krystal?"

"Hmm?"

Fox paused again. "Thanks, for sticking with me through this."

Krystal brought her Arwing a little closer. "I'll follow you anywhere Fox."

Before Fox could respond though, another voice cut into their audio channel. "Its Star Fox! They made it!"

Fox glanced down at his radar before looking out towards the meet up point, his eyes scanning the various ships that were all damaged and battle scarred from their fight above the home world. Out of the one hundred cruisers and two hundred frigates that came at various points to attack the Aparoid home world, only a scarce few made it back. Fox counted maybe thirty cruisers, and only seventy frigates. Their victory had been confirmed, but the price had been paid, and it was heavy price at that.

Fox opened a channel. "This is Fox McCloud, who's in charge right now?"

A deep voice answered. "This is Commander Shar of the frigate _Epsilon_.Are you the only two of your team to survive the exploding planet McCloud?"

Fox shook his head as he answered. "No sir, we just came ahead to make sure that you had all survived. The rest of my team is escorting the escape pod from the _Great Fox _with ROB and Peppy on board."

Shar's voice was tinged with relief. "Peppy survived? That's good, Pepper will be glad to hear that. What about that mechanic of yours? Slippy Toad? Is he coming as well."

Fox frowned. "Yes, sir, why?"

Shar was quiet for a full minute. "Because, we can't raise Corneria, or the Warp Gate control station, and if we can't figure out someway to open it from out end. We'll never make it back to Corneria."

Fox heard Krystal gasp softly, and Fox felt worry tug as his own soul for a moment. "I'm sure Slippy can figure something out. Commander, my Arwings are low on supplies and fuel, is there anyway for us to dock and get restocked on any of your ships?"

This time Shar was quick in responding. "Yes, I have room on the _Epsilon _actually. You and the rest of Star Fox are more then welcome to rest here. Gods know that we wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you."

"Thank you. We'll be coming in right now."

"I'll have a spot prepared for you." Shar paused. "Mr. McCloud?"

Fox shook his head. "It's just Fox, Commander."

"Very well then, Fox. Thank you, for all that you and your team have done." The connection closed after him and Fox glanced over at Krystal. "Shall we dock then?"

Krystal nodded. "Lead the way."

A short few minutes later found Fox dropping out of his Arwing to the sounds of loud cheers as the crew celebrated their victory. In the midst of the cheering soldiers, a pathway was cleared and a muscled black furred wolf in a commanders uniform walked towards Fox with two guards flanking him. Krystal came up next to Fox just as the wolf reached Fox and held out a hand.

As they shook it, he started talking, his deep voice even more laden with heavy tones in person. "Commander Argest Shar of the Cornerian Army, its a pleasure to meet you both."

Fox nodded as they began walking through the hanger bay. "Have you heard from my team yet?"

Shar nodded. "I have, my bridge crew informed me as you landed that they have appeared on the edge of our radar, they aren't in range of radios yet though. Would you like to wait for them?"

Fox thought about it for a moment, but found his answer when Krystal covered her mouth to hide a small yawn. He met eyes with Shar and shook his head. "No, we're all worn out, they'll understand if we try to take a quite nap."

Shar nodded, and Fox noticed that he had a brown streak that spiraled down his back. "Very well then, follow me, I've had some quarters set up for you. "You're going to have to share I hope you don't mind."

Krystal was the one who responded this time. "No sir, and thank you again for letting us on your ship."

Shar bowed his head at Krystal before answering. "It's not a problem Krystal."

Shar led them through the ship and to a pair of small officer quarters, as he was about to leave Fox spoke up. "Oh one last thing Commander. You need to be on the lookout for Wolf O'Donnell, he showed up as we were making our way through the planet, and if it wasn't for him, we never would have made it."

"I'll make a note of it, and let the fleet know." Shar walked off and Fox glanced at Krystal who was removing the plates of her armor, just leaving her in her body suit. Fox blushed and looked away until he heard Krystal slid into one of the beds. He turned around and went to his own bed, sliding in and sighing softly as he drifted off almost immediately.

It took a few hours, but Slippy was able to get a connection open and a Warp Gate created for them. When they returned to Corneria though, it was to a ruined planet, ravaged by a second wave of Aparoids that attacked after Fox and the fleet had left. The team had met briefly with General Pepper who was recovering in a hospital room from his infection. He had enlisted Peppy to assist him, claiming that his injuries need to be looked at as well as his excuse to stay.

Fox stood at attention in front of the reclined blood hound. "Sir, if there is anything we can do, just let me know. Otherwise, I need to return to the base and-"

Pepper cut him off. "Fox, you should know, about your base..." he sighed "It got destroyed, took a direct him from one of the larger Aparoids."

Fox blinked. "Ah..." he blinked "Sir, I need to go down and see if anything survived."

Pepper nodded and Fox left without another word.

* * *

Fox felt his ear twitch as he heard the sound of someone else walking towards him. He glanced over his shoulder at Krystal as she walked towards him, dressed in her combat armor once again. HE turned his gaze back to the crater in front of him. "I don't get it." he started quietly as Krystal came up next to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. "We won, but it feels like..."

Krystal contused for him. "It feels like we lost. I know." she leaned down and wrapped her paw in his, pulling him to his feet. "Seeing all this, its hard to feel like this is a victory, but the fact is, this was a victory, it just had a cost no one saw coming." she glanced at him. "Not even the Great Fox McCloud could have done anything about this."

Fox sighed. "I know, but still...I can't help these thoughts..."

Krystal pulled on his hand and had him face her. "Again, I understand, but remember, because of what we did, we have the option to rebuild this." she gestured out to the destroyed landscape. "It may take a long time, but one day, this will be a thriving city again, and people will go about their lives, and it's all thanks to you."

Fox gave her paw a squeeze. "It was all thanks to us, I couldn't have done this without you."

Krystal smiled as they turned back to their fighters. "Just remember Fox, we have a future now, for everybody, for all the children who will grow up knowing that they survived what many thought was the end."

Fox glanced down at their entwined paws. "For all the children huh..." he trailed off and locked eyes with her, a smile over taking his face.

* * *

_**Your thoughts please, you should all know by now, go to the little white box at the bottom of the page and leave me some thoughts real quick. Which of course, leads me into Guest Reviews!**_

_**JackLinks: Hey, BJ was taken straight from Kit's story, and if you haven't read any of his stuff, your sorely missing out. As for Fate by Cpt. Fox, {If you put a period together like that, FF net thinks its a url and deletes it} that is a damn good story, and hes a damn good author, I had a feeling you might have been thinking of that one, but I wasn't sure.**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Hopefully this update was something along the lines of the idea that you suggested. As for the last update, it was a little confusing, I should have changed it before I uploaded it, but I was too lazy. Also, fun Fact, I do have an idea from Owl City now, and its noted in the Destinies file, as for Tales of Xillia, {yes I saw your review, I usually only reply to the reviews inside the story they were left on. But since I don't know if Dead Planet is going to get updated again, I figure I should get that here.} Like I said, if you're into JRPG's its a great game, if its not your cup of tea, oh well. Still, if your curious, you could always check out that live stream.**_

_**So, Bit of news for ya, might be a while before I update anything Star Fox. I realized not to long ago that I have another story in another section that hasn't been updated in almost two years and it was right on the edge of being done, so I owe to my readers over there to go and get it done, then I need to update my Sly Cooper bit. But I will return, no worries about that!**_

_**I also have a question for all of you, how many would be interested in reading original work from me? Seriously, thinking of actually putting together a full novel off the many ideas that shoot through my head. I actually started one a few years back, but lost the drive, but lately, I've had a lot of ideas that I think have merit shooting through my head.**_

_**Anyway, that's that. I'll see you all on some other Saturday!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	12. Deadeye Destiny

_**So, I know I said I was focusing on other things, but I still get an itch to work on this from time to time, and tonight was no different. So, here is another update for you, before I leave you to it, just a few quick notes. First off, this is the new chapter that pushes the M rating, as usual, if any of you find anything to be offended about, just let me know, and I'll fix it. Second off, you will all hate me by the end of this chapter, and I had to wipe a few tears off my desk.**_

* * *

_-Chapter 12: _**DeadEye Destiny-  
**_**-**__Inspired by: _**Fan Picture**_-_

* * *

- Zoness - Warehouse District -

* * *

Fox and Krystal moved through the alleyway in between warehouses as they made for the one that was marked with a large '06' on the side in bright yellow numbers. Fox was wearing his normal attire, he had on black combat boots that reached up to hug his green armored body suit, with his holster strapped on his right leg, his belt had a few extra pouches hanging from it tonight, one holding a spare charge pack for his custom blaster, and another holding a small selection of explosive deceives, over top his white vest, and combat gloves completed the look.

Next to him, Krystal was dressed in a black combat body suit, although hers was more armored then his with blue combat plates that covered her shoulders, upper arms, hands, chest, her thighs, and finally had plates that ran down to her own combat boots, also blue. She had cut her hair shorter then normal and it bobbed gently as she walked, the white streaks that she had put into catching the light from the few street lights on their path. Her tail was held close to her body, her silver brackets keeping the fur clamped down. Wrapped around her waist was a white belt with a holster for her heavy blaster, and a clip that could attach to her staff, which swung wide with every step she took.

Eventually they reached warehouse six, and both of their stances changed, rather then walking straight down the alleyway, they both crouched and hugged the walls, moving towards a door with a busted light and locked with a new keypad. Compared to the slightly run down appearance of the rest of the warehouse district, the keypad stood out sharply in the night.

Fox looked over at Krystal as they stacked up on either side of the door to the small warehouse. She closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them and looked at Fox, holding up four fingers. Fox nodded and raised his gauntlet to his mouth, whispering into it. "Alright, Krystal has five thought patterns inside, that matches with the information we were given by the client." He snapped lose the holster for his blaster as he continued talking. "Remember, these guys are escaped death row inmates here, and the contract from the government states that they are wanted dead, so go in, and take them down hard." He paused and glanced at Krystal who shrugged. "But, if one of them surrenders, tie them up and make sure they stay out of the fight. We're mercenaries after all, not executioners." Krystal smiled at him gently and he couldn't help the small grin he gave in return.

Fox heard Katt and Falco both give affirmatives in his ear piece, he continued talking after they stopped. "Slippy, Amanda, how's it look up there?"

Slippy called up the camera scans onto the main screen of the Great Fox, while Amanda monitored communications traffic. "We're all good here Fox, nobody for miles around, so you're free to do what you need to. Just try not to get shot alright?"

Fox grinned to himself "I'll try not to Slippy, alright, Katt, Falco, get ready to go after you hear us blow the doors."

Katt was the one that responded. "Copy the Fox, Falco and I are ready to grab the target when you start making noise."

Fox locked eyes with Krystal one more time and she nodded. Fox reached into one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out a small circular device and sticking it on the middle of the door. He pulled his blaster loose with his other hand, as he primed the charge on the door. He reached into his pouch again and pulled out another explosive, this one a small stick, he held the handle down and pulled the pin with his teeth. He took a moment to center himself before he used his clenched hand to slap the charge on the door.

Both he and Krystal ducked their heads as the explosive detonated with a muffled whomp, blowing a circular hole in the door, knocking it loose in its frame, before a secondary charge detonated and blasted the heavy metal door right off its track and into the room. Wasting no time, Fox loosened his hold on the grenade in his hand, the handle flying loose as the device activated, he blindly tossed it into the room, and grabbed his blaster with his other hand as a bright light blasted out the doorway followed by the loud bang of the stun grenade.

Krystal and Fox entered the room as one, both taking aim at one of the two convicts on the ground, each one holding their heads with their eyes watering. The lupines, one a cloudy gray, the other a deep pitch black, both belonged to the same gang that escaped a few weeks ago and resumed their campaign of terror on the local populace. Fox and Krystal each moved towards a different one, pulling out energy cuff emitters and locking the convicts hands and feet together. They stood up and moved further into the warehouse, leaving the office that they had entered from and entering into the warehouse properly.

They had only taken a few steps in when Krystal shoved Fox into cover behind crates before taking cover herself. Moments later, blaster fire lanced across the empty space and struck the area they had just been standing. Fox took a moment to raise his wrist to his mouth again. "Falco, Katt, we got the last two guards here in front of us, should be clear for you to get the girl and get out." he didn't hear their reply as more blaster fire slammed into the metal crate he was behind.

He glanced over as Krystal, who stuck her blaster in its holster, before pulling her staff off its clip and extending it. She gestured up to the gantry that hung above them. Stacked with matching crates like the ones they were hiding behind. Fox nodded and tightened his grip on his blaster. He peeked out around the corner and was rewarded with more blaster fire lancing out towards him. In the split second he had though, he saw one of the convicts standing exposed next to some crates. He waited until the fire died out before he spun around the corner and fire two bright red pulses down at the convict, who barely managed to duck down behind cover as the bolts stuck right where he had been standing. His partner stepped out of cover, firing his own weapon to drive Fox back into cover.

While Fox was keeping the convicts busy, Krystal was charging the booster on her staff. She lined up with a stack of crates that would keep her shielding from view, before she raised the staff above her head, taking a strong two handed grip on it. Blue energy built up at the top and quickly surged down the staff as Krystal slammed it into the ground, the small jet of blue energy shooting her into the air. As the staffs thrust started to fade, Krystal reached out with one hand, grabbing the railing of the gantry and using the last bit of thrust from the staff to swing herself over the edge of railing and onto the gantry. She quickly pushed up against the wall and crouched down, starting to move along the edge of the warehouse towards where the two convicts were still standing, convinced that they had both of the foxes trapped.

Fox for his part was doing a good job of keeping their focus on him, he knew for a fact that at least one of the convicts had a laser burn along their leg, scored when he had moved just that fraction of a second too slow getting back into cover. He had kept track of Krystal so far as he making in onto the catwalk, but after that he lost her, trusting her to accomplish whatever plan she had in mind. He focused on the firefight he found himself in. Most of the people that he went up against were barely fit to hold blaster, yet these two seemed to have training similar to his own. They coordinated their movements, and made sure to cover each other as they fired. In between the bouts of fire, something niggled at the back of Foxes, mind, something that felt off about the whole thing. He shoved it to the back of his mind as he returned his attention to the firefight as his blaster dinged an empty alert. He quickly ejected the current charge pack and slapped in his new one, switching the blaster from single shot to charge, he pulled the trigger to a first click to start the energy build up before waiting for his moment to swing out and return fire.

As he made to move around the corner he realized that for the last few rounds of blaster fire, the convicts fire all came from the same side. Instead of stacked like before. Fox realized what was niggling at him, as instead of leaning around the corner again, he turned around and finished pulling the trigger on his blaster. He wasn't really sure what had him do it, whither is was some nudge from Krystal, or some sound that the convict had made. All that mattered is once he finished pulling the trigger, the glowing ball of energy, now a dark blue, lanced out and smashed into the lightly armored convict, the energy ball gave off a small explosion and Fox shielded his eyes as his foe was destroyed.

He wasted no time in feeling sorry for the life he had ended, instead focusing his hearing back towards the gun fight just in time to hear the convict let out with a loud curse. Fox bounced around the corner, dropping to one knee to fire only to stop when he saw the convict's back facing him.

The convict was facing Krystal who had come up behind him, the convict noticed her before she could get too close though and had spun around to take a shot at her. She had activated her shield and was slowly moving forward as the convict fired on the blue half dome that was in front of her. After a moment he grinned and started charging a shot on his blaster, before he could thick about releasing it though, Krystal raised her staff, causing the shield to fade as she quickly drew her heavy blaster and fired it three time one handed. The last two shots went wide from the kick of the weapon, but the first round drilled right through the small armor on the chest of the convict, spinning him around and dropping him to the ground.

Silence dropped over the warehouse suddenly and neither of the foxes moved as they stared at each other. After a moment, Krystal nodded and Fox stood up, sticking his blaster in his holster as he moved towards Krystal. He raised his arm gauntlet as he walked. "Falco, Katt, we're clear on this end, how did things go on yours?"

Falco's voice was quick in replying. "All good Foxie, we found the girl in one of the store rooms and got her out the back door with no issues." Falco paused. "There is only one thing though Fox, isn't it weird that nobody was guarding her?"

Krystal cut into the line. "Perhaps when they heard the breaching charge go off, the guard rushed into here to backup the two in the office. When they didn't hear a second explosion behind them, they must have figure that it was just us two."

Fox frowned. "Maybe, look, just call in the local cops and tell them that they have a pickup of two escaped convicts in the front office here."

Katt's voice joined the conversation "Just two?"

Fox nodded. "Yeah, just two, the others...resisted."

Katt's voice was hard when she spoke again. "Serves them right, the scars on this girl, they deserved it."

Krystal shook her head with a chuckle as her and Fox started moving towards the office that they had entered from.

Fox grinned as the rush of combat left him feeling slightly giddy. "We'll make sure our two captured guys stay out cold, then we'll head out to meet up with you at the docks." Fox paused for a moment to let Krystal lead the way into the office, where they sank two stun bolts into each of the struggling convicts. "Slippy, we raise any alerts on the local system with all our noise."

"No, Amanda picked up a burst of communication a few minutes into your firefight, we're analyzing it now, but otherwise, no alerts went out. You guys kept it quietish, and nobody got hurt, easy pay day."

Fox laughed as Krystal exited into the alleyway outside. "Easy, except for the gun fight, but otherwise I agree, good job team, lets go get paid."

As Fox started for the door to the alleyway, Slippy started talking again. "Hey Fox, Amanda just finished analyzing the burst signal she picked up, and she's got something important to tell you."

Before Fox could ask what, Amanda cut into the line, her voice panicky. "Fox, there is somebody else out there! Somebody tried to call into the warehouse a few minutes into your fight, I can't pinpoint the signals origin, but its somewhere out near the docks!"

Fox nodded as he stepped out into the hallway "Krystal and I will look into it, hang tight."

As he drew his blaster and located Krystal, he turned towards the dock which had large cranes dominating the horizon. He saw Krystal stiffen and her fur stand on end out of the corner of his eye, just as a small glint of light caught his eye from up in one of the cranes cabs.

Krystal started to move towards Fox, time seeming to slow down for her as adrenalin flooding into her system as panic took hold. Just a few moments more, she felt a strong amount of malice in the air, she didn't know where it was coming from, she just knew that underneath the hate, she could feel the urge to kill pulsing strongly.

She heard something whiz past her as she moved, and she knew that she was too late.

Lead and gun powder based weapons were outlawed over a century ago with the development of laser weapons. The old weapons were considered widely inaccurate and a hassle to use, yet some criminals loved them since most law enforcement didn't armor against lead anymore. There were some who even trained in the long range rifle version since it was harder for some people to trace the shot.

The round that drilled right through the laser resistant armor on Fox's chest was from one of these rifles. The round struck just below his chest and Fox let out a small grunt from the pain of the impact, a moment later, Krystal tackling him back into the warehouse.

Fox wasn't really aware of what happened after the bullet tore through his middle, he was aware of Krystal tackling him, and of rolling along the ground. He heard her cry out his name, the sound distorted for some reason, somewhere, a male voice that sounded like Falco was shouting about how he got her. Other then that though, all that really mattered to Fox was the burning pain that was sitting in his middle.

Krystal meanwhile had pulled Fox into her lap, placing one hand over the hole in his stomach, pressing hard to keep him alive. She felt tears building up in her eyes as she started giving orders. "Slippy, get an ambulance down to the warehouse, now! Fox has been shot!" She swallowed heavily as she reached out to for with her mind and instead of the warmth of his thoughts, she found jumbled and confusing thoughts jarring with her own.

Falco's voice sounded in her ear. "I got her, it was a sniper in one of the crane nests out over the docks. She won't be firing anymore, how bad is Fox hit?!" he waited for a moment "Come on somebody answer me!"

"Ambulance is on its way Krystal." Slippy's voice was frantic. "Their ten minutes out, Amanda is staying up here to track them and I'm heading for the bay to launch in my Arwing with the heavy trauma kit. I'll be there in five."

Falco and the others continued talking, but their voices faded into the background as Fox took in a ragged breath and held up a hand. Krystal took it in her own and felt tears sliding into her fur as Fox started talking. "You know..." he paused and coughed, red dotting his muzzle. "They say your life flashes before you eyes..." he trailed off.

Krystal shook her head. "Don't talk like that Fox." she removed her hand to check on his wound, it was still leaking red onto the ground around them and her paw was dripping with it. She pressed it back onto the wound, as he vision started to blur. She held tight to Fox's paw with her free hand.

Fox started talking again, his voice dropping down to a horse whisper. "All I can see is you."

Krystal smiled at him. "That's right, I'm here Fox, I'll always be here."

Fox's eyes were unfocused. "That's all I can see, is you...Sauria...against the Aparoids...everything...you...your there..." Krystal frowned a she realized that Fox wasn't actually looking at her. "I was going to...going to ask you to marry me...after this...retire...I had it all planned..."

Krystal sobbed once as she pressed tighter on his wound, and gripped his paw harder. "Of course I 'll marry you Fox, you just need to live through this, you've survived worse right?"

Fox had a ghost of a smile drift across his muzzle. "You will...good...that's good..." he paused and winced. "I can't...I can't see...where did...where are you all..." he coughed again. "Where is everybody."

Krystal let his paw drop to the ground so she could run hers over his face. "I'm right here Fox, I'll always be here. Stay with me, just stay with me." She realized that he was still mumbling and she reached out to him with her mind, and she felt his fading thoughts. She cried harder as she reached out to him, trying to get him to stay focused on her.

"_Stay with me Fox!"_

"_Krystal...We'll get married next month...sound good...I think so..." _even his thoughts were muddled. She kept running her paw over his face. _"Just stay with me Fox, and we can get married next month, I promise."_

"_Good..." _his thoughts sharpened, and she felt him grab her paw. _"Krystal, I love you, just know that, I love you so much, and I'm sorry."_

She shook her head. _"Don't be sorry, just be with me."_

She felt humor grace his thoughts for a moment _"I would...but..." _his thoughts started to fade again, growing muddled. _"I think this is it, thanks for being...here to the end...good...goodbye..." _His voice no longer sounded in her head, and she couldn't feel his heart beat anymore. She felt her eyes widen as she felt him fade away.

She closed her eyes as sobs overtook her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, cradling his body as close to her as she could get it. She leaned over his still form, the hot tears sliding down to fall onto his limp hand. "Don't leave me..." she whispered quietly "Please don't leave me..."

"Krystal! Answer me!"

"I'm launching now!"

"Ambulance is eight minutes out!"

"Krystal, what's going on?!"

"Krystal?!"

"Krystal!"

All of their voices stopped as her quiet one cut in. "He's gone." then she closed the link.

* * *

_**Did I tear jerk any of you, because, I'm not kidding, I had to wipe my eyes a few times on those last two pages. I think I hate myself right now for even spawning this idea, but that's what came. So, make sure you rage at me in the review box below, I'm off to bed.**_

_**Of course, before I go, Guest reviews!**_

_**JackLinks: Glad its a fave, although I'm not sure how that will stand after this chapter eh? As for Kit, I strongly recommended it, his stories are a great read. On the Original stuff, look below : ]**_

_**Blake O'Donnell: Glad you enjoyed it then, I was more then a little worried that it wouldn't match up with any idea you had set, but hey, it all worked out eh. As for my original work, it would be a novel of some sort. I have all sorts of ideas bouncing around, heck, maybe I'll make one with just all the short little ideas I have.**_

_**V: Welcome back sir! You should get caught up, as for the Falco and Krystal stuff, that's actually next chapter, I just go by the time of when I get ideas, I create a page break in the Destinies document, title it, make a note of the inspiration, then leave it until its time to write. I got an idea for what I wanted to do a few weeks ago, but by that time, I already had twelve chapters put in. So, next time I update this, it will be Krystal and Falco, promise, as for the Slippy and Amanda, I just haven't had any ideas yet, but I do plan on doing one, no worries. Also on James and Vixy, that would be chapter Twenty, when ever I get around to it.**_

_**So, that's that, Except for one last thing, below is some of my original stuff, since all of you actually talked about it, I figure I would give you a sample of it, bear in mind, that whats below is not in the same genre as the idea that's building in my head. It's also been slightly edited for the T thing.**_

* * *

I dropped to one knee as the ash continued to fall around me. I reached down and rubbed some of the ash between my fingers with my armored gloves. My breathing rattling through my respirator as I looked up and glanced around the devastated landscape. I dusted my fingers off and reached up to press a few buttons on the side of my goggles. My vision took on a red hue as I activated my thermal view and ran my eyes across the horizon again.

Of course there's nothing, they never leave any survivors behind. I stood up and started walking through the ash, my heavy boots stirring up little clouds of darkness as I walked. I can't help but scan my surroundings as I walk, two days ago this had been a bustling community town of fourteen THOUSAND people. It had also been one of my more frequent stops for supplies considering how heavily defended and patrolled it usually was.

But now, there was nothing but ash, the {CENSORED} didn't even leave any bones behind. give it a week or two, and you wouldn't even know there used to be a town here. I pulled my rifle around from its sling and held it, a comfort thing really, I didn't expect to run into anything here.

A big mistake as it turned out to be, the scanner in my suit alerted me to the presence of a living thing right before it plowed into me and knocked me into the ash. I rolled away, losing my rifle in the process, and stood up drawing my knife as I came to my feet, facing what had knocked me over.

A fellow human was the last thing I expected, she was dressed in long pants and a t-shirt, a back pack slung across her shoulders, a large tear through the underside, from her belt hung an oxygen pack that ran up to attach to the mask that covered her face, similar to mine. What it didn't cover though was the shocking red hair that stood out against the dim light of the falling sun. Her chest heaved as she panted and we stared at each other for a long moment before she spoke up.

"Run."

I felt my eyes widen as I sheathed my knife and reached for my lower back, pulling out the lever action shotgun from its holster. I saw her eyes go wide as I aimed the weapon at her, and she ducked right before I pulled the trigger.

The heavy slug round screamed out of the barrel and tore into the shadowy thing that had been leaping at the girl. I ratcheted the shotgun, ejected the spent shell and chambering another one. I saw two more shadows rise out of the ground around us and I cursed myself for how stupid I have been. Of course they would have left some behind to catch anybody coming by. I fired the last three shells in my gun as the creatures started for us, one fell to the two slugs that hit it, and the other kept coming. The one that I had already shot struggled to its feet.

I reached down and grabbed the woman roughly by her arm, pulling her to her feet and pushing her behind me. I repeated what she had told me as I started to move. "Run!" then I added a few more words, just because the situation seemed to call for them. "GO, {CENSORED} MOVE YOUR ASS!"

As we ran through the ash, I saw more of the shades rise out of the ash and I reached for my belt of shells for my shotgun, my hand only made it halfway towards the belt before I changed my mind and realized that slugs wouldn't do anymore. Instead, I reached into my pocket and pulled out four special slugs, the tips stuck out just a bit and I jammed them into my gun, glad that I had modified the receiving port to accept the slightly longer rounds. I finished loading in the rounds and I turned around, sliding to a stop as I raised the shotgun to my shoulder and aimed down the barrel. I heard the woman stop for a moment before she continued running. Good luck to her, if this didn't work all she would do is die tired.

I waited, as the creatures charged closer, I could hear them howling now, I waited a moment more for them to start to group in on me before I pulled the trigger. The first round left in a flash of light and sped towards the creatures. When it got close, the round flashed, and exploded, sending out shards of burning magnesium out, every bit that struck one of the creatures, instantly lighting it on fire and causing them to fall to the ground. By the time that the sound of the first shell exploding had started to fade, I had already fire off the last three.

The echoing sounds of the explosions faded as the cries of the creatures took their place.

I felt no pity for them, knowing what had once stood here.

Feeling the hairs on the back of my neck rise, I turned my head to see one of the creatures, still on fire, rushing towards me. Knowing there was no time to get my shotgun ready again, I dropped it into the ash and pulled my knife out, even with the creature on fire there was a good chance I was going to lose this fight. But I was determined to take that piece of {CENSORED} with me.

It leapt into the air, its hind legs powering it towards me, and I watched in almost slow motion as adrenalin flooded my body. That's why I had an excellent view as the large round tore through its skull and pulled the creature off its path, causing it to soar harmlessly past me. Sound caught up with me just in time to hear the loud report of a sniper rifle. I knelt down and grabbed my shotgun, loading more rounds as the sniper fire continued. The sounds of the rifle being fired faded as I finished loading my gun, and I paused for a moment, to listen.

My pounding heart beat was all I could hear and I glanced around at the dead creatures. I looked over and saw that the woman was braced on one knee with my rifle in her hand. She was also watching to see if any of the creatures were moving. I watched as she ran the bolt and ejected another shell from the weapon and stood up. We locked eyes again and I gave her a two finger wave before I turned around.

Anybody who saved my {CENSORED} was more then welcome to one of my weapons.

I hadn't made it very far before she caught up to me, the rifle still in her arms. We walked in silence for a moment before she spoke up. "Thanks, my name is Sera."

I nodded, content in my silence.

"What's yours?"

I stopped and glanced at her. "I work alone."

She stared at me before she narrowed her eyes. "You almost died alone just now."

I scoffed. "Fair point, the name is John. John Salvent."

I watched her eyes widen as she realized who I was. "The wanted man?!"

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_**Well, there ya go. Bed now!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


	13. Crosed Destiny

_**Whoo... Been a while no? Sorry about that, been busy and what not. More on that below, for now, I'll just leave you with something that has been requested quite a few times. I just hope that its something that people like.**_

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_-Chapter 13: _**Crossed Destiny-  
**_**-**__Inspired by: _**Requests for Falco X Krystal**_-_

* * *

"So, what's your next move?"

Falco Lombardi glanced around the alleyway as the drunks from the local bar surrounded him, most of them were just armed with refuse from the alleyway, a discarded two by four in the hands of two of them. But a few had found rusty pipes that looked like they could cause quite a bit of pain. The most troubling though were the three guys at the back who had knives in their hands, and Falco could make out the bulges of hidden weapons underneath their clothes. No doubt when they realized they had them Falco would be a dead bird.

He took a step back and stumbled as the ground around him shifted sharply, or rather it seemed like it did. Perhaps his biggest problem was that he would have trouble walking in a straight line down the street, let alone managing to actually fight them all off.

"Well loud mouth? What now?" The lead drunk took a step forward brandishing his knife with a quick lazy stab at the bird in front of him.

Falco shrugged his shoulders. "Hey guys, it was just a, just a joke, ya know?" he grinned at the doberman in front of him, determined to start the fight on his terms "You mom liked it when I told her last night."

The dog growled in rage and started to move towards Falco, who braced himself for the incoming attack. Before the doberman reached him though, a small rock sailed through the air and stuck him square on the side of muzzle, causing him to yelp in pain and stumble to the side, dropping his knife in the process. The drunks turned as one to see who had thrown the rock.

"Who's there!?"

"Come on!"

"Coward!"

"Show yourself!"

"No need to shout, my head hurts enough as is." Falco wasn't sure who had come to his rescue, but the person who walked out of the backdoor of the bar, another rock in her paw, was one of the last people he expected.

Krystal looked very cross as she stared at the drunks in front of her, she was dressed in a loose tank top and baggy shorts that hung down past her knees. Her hair was loose and flowed around her face as she stepped fully out into the alleyway, her combat boots making a heavy thudding sound as she stepped out onto the paved ground. Several of the drunks took a step back when they saw the small baton that was hanging from a loop on her pants.

The doberman, slightly shaken out of his haze by the pain in his muzzle stepped forward. "Step aside lady, this ain't your fight."

Krystal just bowed her head and shook it slightly, only to wince and put a paw to her temple. "Man, you guys just can't control your urges can you? It's bad enough that I got a hang over, but the things you guys are thinking about trying to do to me." she sighed and dropped the rock, her paw drifted towards the baton. "I just came here to lose myself for a few hours, and I wake up to find you guys roughing my teammate outside." She blinked and unclasped the baton from its loop. "So yes, this is my fight. Two against six guys is a little more fair."

The drunks looked around at each other, and the doberman stepped closer to Krystal. "Last I checked there are seven guys here." He leaned forward and bared his teeth at her. "Sure you still want to get involved?"

Krystal just grinned and reached forward, grabbing the doberman by his jacket, she pulled him close and whispered into his ear. "Yes, I'm sure, besides, you don't count" Then she brought her knee up sharply into his groin, causing the doberman to howl in pain, she shoved him back a step and spun around, smashing the baton into the side of his head. He dropped to the ground with a quiet whimper. "Six guys left now." she glanced up at the drunks. "So, who's next?"

Two of the drunks, mainly going along with the group dropped their weapons and ran, cowed by the display that Krystal had just put on. That left two with knives, and one each with a pipe and a two by four. The two guys with knives rushed at her, but Krystal simple stepped to the side and thumbed her baton, extending it into her staff, she reached out and rapped them both sharply across the back of their heads as they stumbled past. They both hit the wall unconscious.

She brought her staff up and blocked the guy with the pipe as he swung at her, she shifted her grip on her staff and shoved him back before sweeping his legs out from under him and hitting him in the stomach with her staff before he could get up. He groaned and rolled to the side just in time to meet Krystal's boot as she put him out of the fight with a light kick to his head.

She collapsed her staff and turned to the last drunk, the one with the two by four who was watching her wide eyed.

"What...What are you?"

Krystal shook her head. "Do you really want me to answer that?" She held the baton in her right hand and gestured with her left. "Come on already. Grow a pair and attack."

The drunk, a feline gulped and moved towards Krystal, who moved as well, she took a quick step forward and buried her right hand into his gut, bending him over double as he dropped to his knees to the ground. He coughed up his drinks and meal from earlier, then fell into it as Krystal tapped the staff on his head and sent his mind tumbling into darkness.

As the last drunk fell to the cold hard ground, Krystal stumbled and put a hand to her head as she moaned. "Whoa...Now it kicks in..." She blinked and watched as Falco moved towards her with his hands out.

"You okay Krystal?" he stumbled a bit as he made his way towards her

Krystal nodded slowly. "Yeah...I'm fine...I think. You?"

Falco blinked a few times. "Yeah. Come on, lets go inside." He put a hand on her shoulder and led her back into the bar where they moved to a table in the back. Krystal took a seat and gently laid her head down on the table while Falco leaned back on the stool he was sitting on. They stayed that way in silence for a few moments before Falco glanced over at her. "So, what brings you to this dive?"

Krystal turned her head to glance at the bird with one eye before she sighed and lifted her head up. "Same thing you were doing before you got into a fight with those other guys." She mimed taking a drink. "Trying to forget my emotions."

Falco frowned at her. "Hey, I don't-"

Krystal waved a paw through the air. "Just stop Falco, telepathic remember?" she pointed at him, frowning "I know how you feel." She waited a moment before she continued quietly "It feels exactly like I do." Falco opened his mouth to deny it, but Krystal kept talking, still in that quiet voice that had him focusing on her words. "It's that spot inside your heart, that part that reaches into you're very soul. The bit that reaches out for that one person who always makes you smile, for the person who feels like you belong with them. They always turn a bad day good just be gracing you with a 'Hello'. They pay attention to you, even when you don't think you need it." She sighed and laid her arms on the table before she rested her chin on them. "They know you, and they complete you with out you even asking for it." She closed her eyes and sighed. "And now, that spot is a sore wound, ripped open by a betrayal you never saw coming. Its a dark and festering pain that never leaves your thoughts, no matter how much you try." Falco saw a tear slip out from under her eyelid and slid into her fur. "It hurts so much Falco...how do you deal with it?"

Falco opened his mouth to reply, but closed it after a moment when he realized that everything she said was true in a way. Eventually he reached out and laid a hand on Krystal's shoulder. "I don't know how I deal with it Krystal. Some days it feels like its going to kill me, but other days, I use it to keep me going, to remind me that I'm still alive."

Krystal sighed. "Still alive...maybe that's how I can stop the pain, maybe I'll just end it all." she opened her eyes and Falco saw the absolute hopelessness that dominated her soul. "It would be so easy." she said softly as she glanced down at her hand.

Falco slid out of his seat and moved around the table, laying an arm across her shoulders. "Hey. Don't talk like that."

Krystal turned those seemingly empty eyes on him. "Why not?"

Falco floundered for a moment before something came to him. "Because, that's how quitters talk, and after everything you've been through, everything you've survived, the last thing you can do is quit. Not you," he paused for a moment "and not me."

Krystal blinked and Falco saw a bit of life enter into her gaze. "But what's the point, what do I have left to live for?"

Falco grinned. "You have a life to live for, one to show the universe that no matter what it throws your way, you'll stand back up and keep going. You're already one hell of a pilot, use that, embrace it, become the best."

Krystal blinked again and looked away from him, focusing on the swirls of grain in the wooden table. After a moment, she spoke up. "Thanks Falco." she said softly.

Falco grinned. "Hey, that's what teammates are for right? To lift you up when you're down?" he paused and chuckled softly. "Hell, we can stand together, the two of us."

Krystal sat up straight in her seat. "Just the two of us huh?"

Falco shrugged his shoulders "Sure why not, who else do we got but each other right?"

Krystal smiled softly. "You're right." she leaned up and planted a kiss on the side of his beak and Falco felt his eyes go wide. "Thanks Falco, for being there." she stood up and tucked her arm through his. "What do you say we go get some coffee, I think we both have done enough drinking for a life time."

Falco blinked, still shocked over the kiss. He glanced at Krystal as they walked out of the bar. "Sure, why not?"

"_Hard to believe that's how it all started."_

Krystal stared at her finger, staring at the golden band that sat on her ring finger, she used her thumb to spin the band around to reveal the diamonds that were inlaid into the metal before she turned her gaze back to the conversation that was happening between the two people in the center of the room.

"Oh come off it Falco, whats the big deal?"

Falco snorted and raised his middle finger at the vulpine. "Simple Fox, I took orders from you for almost a decade, and I'm not about to start taking them again."

Fox McCloud huffed out a snort of anger before he glanced away for a moment, collecting himself. He turned back to Falco with his retort ready. "I'm doing you a favor, General Peppy contracted Star _Fox _to do this mission, not Star _Falco_. I could have brought in anybody else on this mission, but I choose you."

Falco scoffed. "Like you had a choice Fox, My team is the only other one out there that would even think about working with you. Let alone enter into the same room as you." he pointed a finger at Fox. "As for you doing me a favor, you can stuff that argument. Star Falco isn't hurting for money like some teams. So you face it, if I accept this, I would be doing _you _a favor. With out this job how long can you keep the _Great Fox _in the air? A month, two? You're bleeding cash and you need this job. So if anything, I should lead the teams and you should follow my orders for once."

Fox opened his mouth to respond, but another voice cut him off. "Falco, can you just come off your 'better then everyone' chair for just one minute and lend a hand?" Katt McCloud spoke up from her position on the table behind Fox. "It wouldn't kill you to be nice for once."

Falco narrowed his eyes at Fox and opened his mouth before Krystal sensed what he was about to say and laid a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and glanced back at over her. She raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed and nodded. He turned back to Fox and crossed his arms. "Let's say we take this job, what's the pay and the split?"

Katt slid off the table and took a step forward. "Whoa now, I've got a much bigger question." when the other three pilots in the room looked at her she grinned and crossed her arms, using a hand to point at Krystal. "How did you manage to calm him down like that? I never managed it."

Fox glanced back at his wife with a small grin. "I couldn't do it the entire time he flew for me." he glanced over at Krystal. "Must be a special type of girl to manage that"

Falco laid a hand over her shoulder. "You know it Fox, you shouldn't have left her high and dry."

Fox frowned and opened his mouth but Katt coughed into her palm. "So, we were kinda working on figuring out pay and split here."

Before any of them could speak up, the fifth person in the room, who had been watching all of this with a small smile spoke up. "I should clarify some things since you all seem to be confused on a few things." The four pilots turned to face General Peppy Hare who had a finger in the air. "Fox is under the impression that he gets the choice on who to bring in, but I have hired you both for this job. As for the pay, its enough, we'll leave it at that, and it will be split even to both parties." Peppy glanced between the two leaders "Sound fair?" After a pause in which both Falco and Fox looked at each, they each turned back to Peppy and nodded. Peppy's smile got wider. "Good, then I'll see you all later after you get it done." He stood up and left, leaving the four pilots along in the room together.

Falco wasted no time and turning about. "Come on hun, lets get out of here."

Krystal shook her head and followed her husband. "Of course dear."

The two Lombardi's moved through the base quickly, only stopping to pick up their black flight vests from the hooks they had hung them on before heading outside. As soon as sunlight touched his beak Falco started ranting. "I swear, he is so smug sometimes."

Krystal just laughed at her husband. "You let him get under your skin and you know it."

Falco glanced over his shoulder at her with a guilty grin. "Yeah, you're right I'm sure." he turned his gaze back to the landing pad where their Arwings sat getting refueled. "Sometime I wonder what my life would be like if you and I hadn't hooked up."

Krystal quickened her step for a moment to match his speed before she tucked her arm through his. "Most likely? You would still be flying with Star Fox, and the team would be doing as well as we are."

Falco stopped and took her paw in his hand as he chuckled. "You are something else you know that? What ever did I do to deserve you?"

Krystal stood on her tip toes and kissed him. "Nothing, you were just there, and I thank the gods every day for that."

The two of them continued towards their Arwings and as they reached them Falco glanced at his wife. "I know that look, what's up?"

Krystal pulled herself up onto the wing of her ship before she answered. "Oh nothing, it was just while we were in there, the way Fox looked at me one point..." she trailed off as she opened her canopy.

Falco copied her actions. "One point?" he asked

Krystal dropped down into her cockpit. "I don't know, it was just an odd look. Almost like he regretted something."

Falco dropped down into his own cockpit. "Huh. Regret leaving you behind maybe?"

Krystal nodded as she started her systems. "Maybe, but it's not like it matters, I got you instead, and I'm happier for it."

Falco chuckled as their canopies closed, his voice coming out of her radio. "That's my girl."

* * *

_**Going to hop right into the guest reviews. But before I do, see V, told you it was coming : P  
**_

_**Black O'Donnell: Darn, no tears again, I'm going to have to rethink my skills on sadness apparently. As for the picture, I'm not sure who it's by, I found it on a Facebook page a while back, and no artist was mentioned, although I have a feeling they are one and the same. Krystal holding Fox who's bleeding from a hole in his chest and the picture is done in Grey Scale with a Red background?**_

_**I'm glad you enjoyed that bit of original stuff, but that wasn't from a novel, just an example of my original stuff. Still, it caught your attention, so neat.**_

_**As I've said before, I'm always looking for new ideas, and considering I like Adventures (Go figure, some people look at me like I'm carrying the plague when I say that) and I agree with you on wanting the fight that didn't happen, I think its safe to say that's another chapter to be added to the eventual length that is Destinies. That brings me up to Twenty Four eventual chapters now. Cool. Also, I know I've said it before, but you should look into writing man, you have lots of awesome ideas.**_

_**JackLinks: Glad you enjoyed and that it brought up some other memories, I liked Army of Two myself. As for updating Star Fox stuff, no worries, I have no plans of stopping soon, too many ideas seem to be situated here. As for the original work, eh, maybe I'll actually use my FictionPress account to make a one shot series of originals. Got plenty of ideas for those as well.**_

_**So, before I head off to bed, Couple of biggish things to discuss with you all. First off, for those who read Dead Planet, and have not already done so, I have poll on my page about what I'm going to do for Act 2, go vote, since I'm having trouble making up my mind.**_

_**Speaking of Act 2 though, I actually started working on that a few days ago, it's no where near complete, still working on ideas and what not, but the two and a half pages that I have, I really like. Hopefully you will all as well. **_

_**For those who read ReArmed Conflict, I'm going to be and trying to roll an update out sometime this week for it, but I still got quite a few pages to type out so we'll see how that goes.**_

_**Just one more thing, then I'll leave you all alone for a few days. First off, Back to those who read Dead Planet, some of you may remember those little 'one shot' bits that I posted after the end of the later chapters as bonuses. Well, those weren't one shot bits, they were actually all from the first two chapters of another piece I've been planning. Not sure when I'll be getting time to work on it, but I don't think anything like it has been done before on the Star Fox section of this site, so I'm excited to get it underway eventually. Maybe after I finish ReArmed, we'll see.**_

_**Well, that should be everything for now, remember to leave me a review!**_

_**Peace,**_

_**- Emile**_


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